CRETACEOUS-TERTIARY (CHICXULUB) IMPACT ANGLE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

The Chicxulub impact structure exhibits asymmetries in its geophysical signatures that closely resemble asymmetries produced by oblique impa cts in laboratory experiments and recognized on planetary surfaces, Th ese asymmetric signatures suggest a trajectory for the Chicxulub bolid e from the southeast to the northwest at a 20 degrees-30 degrees angle from the horizontal. As a result, biotic extinctions may have been mo st severe and catastrophic in the Northern Hemisphere, Geographic vari ation in the magnitude of the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) ''fern spike'' and palynofloral extinctions are consistent with the proposed traject ory.