On Tuesday 29 September, AMGC welcomed visitors from Japan for a day devoted to one of the most extraordinary events in Earth’s history: Chicxulub asteroid impact 66 million years ago.
The day began with Prof Philippe Claeys, who discussed Chicxulub, from impact cratering and the history of its research to the remarkable chain of discoveries that connected the event in present-day Mexico to the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction. The conversation moved from the physics of large impacts to the geological evidence they leave behind, and to the layers of rock around the world that helped scientists piece together what happened at the end of the Cretaceous.
Philippe also reflected on how the Chicxulub story has unfolded over the years: from the first clues in the geological record, to the identification of the crater itself, and then to the growing effort to understand the environmental consequences of the impact. Inevitably, dinosaurs entered the story too, along with the broader question of how a single collision could trigger changes severe enough to reshape ecosystems across the planet.
“Chicxulub shows us how one impact can change the history of an entire planet.” — Prof Philippe Claeys
From there, the discussion naturally moved from the crater and the rocks to the atmosphere. Later in the day, Dr Cem Berk Senel joined the conversation to present climate simulations and animations from the team’s Chicxulub research. Shown on the large screens at AMGC, the visualizations illustrated how impact ejecta could spread globally through the atmosphere, strongly reduce incoming sunlight and cool the planet, linking the initial collision to the longer-term “impact winter” that followed.
By the end of the day, the discussion had travelled from impact cratering and geology to climate modelling, mass extinction and, of course, dinosaurs. It made for a lively and memorable day at AMGC, and it was a real pleasure to welcome our visitors from Japan to Brussels.
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A few moments from the visit: Philippe outdoors and a discussion with Cem around AMGC’s Chicxulub simulations.