Walter and Luis Alvarez hypothesized that an asteroid impact caused the formation of a 66- million-year-old layer of clay containing high levels of iridium. How did geologists test this hypothesis? What evidence did they look for? PLEASE HELP ME FAST!!!

To test this hypothesis, geologists around the globe measured iridium concentrations at sites known to be 66 million years old. Because geologists knew that asteroid impacts cause minerals to fracture, they also measured the clay layers for shock-fractured minerals, like quartz.

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michell96 michell96 · Answer 2 · 2021-09-21T16:37:42+02:00

These geologists raised this hypothesis because of the large crater that was in this place and the amount of fossils that are in the K / Pg boundary layer. Also the high levels of iridium.

In 1979 the scientists Luis Alvarez and Walter Alvarez led the discovery of a carbonate clay layer with iridium concentrations ten times higher than those expected in the Yucatan Peninsula.

This allowed them to propose a hypothesis about the mass extinction of dinosaurs caused by the collision of an asteroid in the Earth's crust because iridium is a rare element in the Earth's crust and ten times more concentration of it was found in this area.

On the other hand, this hypothesis was reinforced when in other parts of the world it was found that the boundary layer k / Pg had high concentrations of iridium.

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