Impact event Chicxulub Crater. This crater is centered on the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico and was discovered by Tony Camargo and Glen Pentfield while working as geophysicists for the Mexican oil company PEMEX. What they reported as a circular feature later turned out to be a crater estimated to be in diameter. This convinced the vast majority of scientists that this extinction resulted from a point event that is most probably an extraterrestrial impact and not from increased volcanism and climate change (which would spread its main effect over a much longer time period). Although there is now general agreement that there
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