[imagesource: BBC Studios]

The cataclysmic moment that ended the dinosaur era 66 million years ago is coming together for scientists.

Incredible discoveries made at Tanis, a unique fossil site at the Hell Creek Formation in North Dakota, have been stacking up, including something that NASA described as “mind-blowing”.

That would be what you see above, a tiny spherule perfectly preserved in amber, like a little time capsule revealing what scientists and palaeontologists believe is from the dino-killing asteroid that changed the history of the planet.

It’s “like getting a sample vial, running back in time and getting a sample from the impact site and then saving it for science,” said palaeontologist Robert DePalma who has been working at Tanis for 10 years.

Image: BBC Studios

They believe the fragments are of cosmic origin because of the chromium and nickel, as well as some other elements that are only commonly found in meteoritic material.

CNN reports:

“This example of what might be a little tiny fragment, maybe micrograms, of the colliding asteroid — the fact that a record of that is preserved, would be mind-blowing,” said Goddard Chief Scientist Jim Garvin, who has studied impact cratering on Earth and Mars.

The site, which no longer resembles the lush Cretaceous Period, has been the home of other revealing fossils and finds that point to this giant asteroid and the world it wiped out.

That includes debris-shrouded fish, a stick-impaled turtle, and a dinosaur leg with the skin still intact:

“One piece of evidence after another started stacking up and changing the story. It was a progression of clues like a Sherlock Holmes investigation,” DePalma said.

“It gives a moment by moment story of what happens right after impact and you end up getting such a rich resource for scientific investigation.”

DePalma actually features alongside naturalist Sir David Attenborough as they tell the story of these discoveries in the new BBC documentary, Dinosaur Apocalypse:

Interestingly, a lot of the finds revealed in the doccie haven’t even been published in scientific journals as they are still awaiting peer review.

Space has more:

“We’re excited to bring viewers along on this journey as scientists excavate this extraordinary dig site,” Julia Cort, a NOVA co-executive producer, said in a statement.

“We’re able to look over the shoulders of paleontologists uncovering some of the rarest fossils ever found in North America — perhaps in the world — that if confirmed, could help illuminate the most dramatic single day in the history of the planet,” Cort added.

The doccie, filmed over three years, will be available in two parts. The first aired on PBS in the US yesterday.

[sources:cnn&space]