Sixty-five million years ago, Tyrannosaurus rex and other dinosaurs had the lay of the land. These colossal creatures ruled the Earth until a meteorite made impact on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. That’s what most scientists believe. That’s what Dr. Gary Kinsland’s research points to.

For years now, Kinsland and a host of researchers have been calculating elevations and examining surface features in the Chicxulub crater - the place where impact was made on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. These studies of the surface topography and studies of the subsurface by geophysical means indicate the crater is about 120 in diameter and was initially about 3,000 feet deep. Over time, the crater has since filled with sediments, mostly limestone which has formed in the warm waters of the Yucatan Peninsula.

In July, Kinsland and researchers Manuel Hurtado of Instituto Mexicano del Petroleo, Jaime Fucugauchi and Mauricio Cisneros of Instituto de Geofisica, and UL Lafayette graduate student Zach Long traveled to the Yucatan for more investigation. Kinsland presented their findings during the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Denver in October. The title of the research paper is “New Gravity and Topographic Data Over the Chicxulub Impact Structure.” Approximately 6,300 geoscientists were expected to attend.