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Dinosaur
extinction theory
validated

A UH scientist helps prove that
the earth was indeed hit
65 million years ago by an
extraterrestrial body

By Helen Altonn
Star-Bulletin

A Hawaii scientist and her colleagues have found evidence of what has long been suspected: A catastrophic extraterrestrial event caused the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

"There is no question that was the case with this evidence," said Luann Becker, organic geochemist in the University of Hawaii's Institute of Geophysics and Planetology.

Becker and Robert Poreda of the University of Rochester discovered extraterrestrial gases within "buckyballs" and other fullerene carbon molecules.

Fullerenes are large molecules of 60 or more carbon atoms formed in a cage-like structure similar to the cover of a soccer ball.

They're called buckminsterfullerenes or buckyballs because they resemble the geodesic domes designed by American inventor Richard Buckminster Fuller.

Working with Becker and Poreda is Theodore Bunch of NASA Ames Research Center, who looks at large impact events on Earth and collects samples.

In an article in the British journal Nature last July, Becker and Bunch described their discovery of large clusters of fullerene carbon molecules in the Allende meteorite that fell in Mexico in the late 1960s.

Their latest findings -- looking at the Allende meteorite and the Murchison meteorite in Australia -- will be reported in the March 28 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

"Both meteorites have unusual carbon molecules that we found previously, but they also have trapped inert gases, called noble gases, Becker said.

"And these gases tell a very interesting story.

"They tell us this material is very definitely coming from the cosmos, from space, and they form there and this material is definitely very exotic and an indication of extraterrestrial material coming to Earth."

The scientists also looked at sediments from a layer of Earth known as the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary.

The layer marks a sudden change in the Earth's biology and geology and the mass extinction of dinosaurs, generally attributed to the collision of an asteroid with the Earth.

"Fullerene is just one more indication that, yes, indeed, there was a large catastrophic event and it was an extraterrestrial body that hit the Earth," said Becker.

The scientists are excited now about using extraterrestrial gases within fullerene carbon molecules to examine other, largely unexplained extinction events and changes in biodiversity, she said.

The discovery will help scientists understand how planetary atmospheres evolve, she said.

"We're eager to explore the role of fullerene in the universe and eager to look for fullerene in stars, to understand how to search for them and identify them."

Poreda said meteorite researchers for 25 years have looked for a carrier of extraterrestrial gases in carbon residues.

He and Becker have worked five years on a procedure to extract fullerenes and separate them from the rest of carbon molecules present, he said.

By changing the extraction method, they have been able to get much larger molecules, which turn out to have the bulk of fullerene components, he said.

That provided the link with the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary impact deposits associated with the extinction of dinosaurs, he said.