Scientists drilling beneath the Gulf of Mexico have hit the layer deposited when an asteroid the size of Staten Island, N.Y., hit Earth. Samples might contain details from that fateful day.

In the following decade, Chicxulub Crater was discovered in the Gulf of Mexico. And because the crater appeared to be the same age as the global rock layer enriched with asteroid dust, researchers ...

The impact, which precipitated widespread hydrothermal activity, ultimately created a nutrient-rich oceanic bath, the researchers say. "After the asteroid impact, the Gulf of Mexico records an ...

After a meteor punched a huge crater into the Earth 65.5 million years ago, 70 percent of the planet's species went extinct. Today, pieces of that meteor are found all over the world.

Parts of the town of Wetumpka, Ala., sit within a 4.7-mile in diameter meteor crater. ... an atmospheric blast wave and falling debris that would have reached to what is now the Gulf of Mexico.

To form a Gulf-size crater in rocky soil, the energy required is 14 trillion megatons. If we assume an impact speed of 45,000 mph (72,000 km/h), the culprit body must be about 51 miles (82 km) across.

The colossal impact event, which triggered a mass extinction event over much of Earth's land and ocean environments, also filled the present-day Gulf of Mexico with nutrients for at least 700,000 ...