DOOMED: An illustration of the asteroid that wiped out most of the life on Earth (Pic: GETTY)

The energy released was equivalent to 100 trillion tonnes of TNT - more than a billion times more than the Hiroshima atom bomb.

The crater left by the impact is estimated to be 93 miles wide and 12 miles deep.

Dust is believed to have blocked out the sun - cooling the planet dramatically and causing plants to die-off.

This in turn had a knock-on effect, resulting in most life being wiped out.

OLD KINGS: A Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton on display in Washington DC (Pic: GETTY)

The immense crater left in the asteroid’s wake is called Chicxulub.

This scar in the Earth is more than 115 miles wide.

And new research published in Nature by Purdue University shows how the impact was so powerful rock behaved like liquid.

“For a while, the broken rock behaves as a fluid," said Jay Melosh a professor of earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences at Purdue University.

DESTROYED: Illustration of asteroid collision on the Yucatan Peninsula which left Chicxulub (Pic: GETTY)

"There have been a lot of theories proposed about what mechanism allows this fluidization to happen, and now we know it's really strong vibrations shaking the rock constantly enough to allow it to flow."

The International Ocean Discovery Program drilled a mile into Earth, collecting rock that was shattered and partly melted by the impact that wiped out the dinosaurs.

“These findings help us understand how impact craters collapse and how large masses of rock behave in a fluid-like manner in other circumstances, such as landslides and earthquakes," Prof Melosh added.

DISCOVERY: Scientists carrying rock samples as they investigate the crater Chicxulub (Pic: GETTY STOCK)

"Towns have been wiped out by enormous landslides, where people thought they were safe but then discovered that rock will flow like liquid when some disturbance sets a big enough mass in motion."

He added that it's important to understand the consequences of a large asteroid strike on Earth.

“Rock fluidisation during peak-ring formation of large impact structures” was published in Nature.