Chicxulub impactor Chicxulub impactor The Chicxulub impactor ( ), also known as the K/Pg impactor and (more speculatively) as the Chicxulub asteroid, was an asteroid or other celestial body some in diameter which struck the Earth at the end of the Cretaceous period, approximately 66 million years ago, creating the Chicxulub crater. It impacted a few miles from the present-day town of Chicxulub in Mexico, after which the impactor and its crater are named. Because the estimated date of the object's impact and the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary (K–Pg boundary) coincide, there is a scientific consensus that its impact was the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event
Peak ring (crater) develop during crater formation. The peak-ring structure of Chicxulub crater was probably formed as inward-collapsing material impacted the over-steepened central peak, to form a hydraulic jump at the location where the peak ring was located. Other theories have been formulated. Perhaps, in the case of Chicxulub crater, an over-high central peak collapsed into the peak ring. Chicxulub is Earth's only crater to have an intact peak ring structure. More ideas are available. Peak ring (crater) A peak ring crater is a type of complex crater. A central peak is not seen, instead, a roughly circular peak (possibly discontinuous) surrounds the