Fragment of Chicxulub asteroid unearthed in US – along with remains of a dinosaur killed by impact 

Palaeontologists have unearthed a fragment of the Chicxulub asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

The fragment was found alongside fossilised leg of a dinosaur killed by impact – the first dinosaur victim of the asteroid strike that has ever been found.

It belonged to Thescelosaurus, a small herbivore, and is likely to have been ripped off hours after the asteroid impact caused a flash flood. 

The remarkable discoveries were made by palaeontologist Robert DePalma at a dig site known as Tanis in North Dakota.

They could provide the first ever physical evidence that dinosaurs were killed by an asteroid strike at the end of the Cretaceous Period. 

The fossilised leg (pictured) once belonging to a dinosaur known as Thescelosaurus was likely ripped off in a flood, according to researchers

Spherules (glass beads of Earth rock) rained down from the sky, less than an hour after the Chicxulub impact

The Chicxulub asteroid slammed into a shallow sea in what is today the Gulf of Mexico, leaving a crater spanning 93 miles and goes 12 miles deep

‘This is the most incredible thing that we could possibly imagine here, the best case scenario….The one thing that we always wanted to find in this site and here we’ve got it,’ said DePalma.

The findings were reported by the BBC after the corporation and Sir David Attenborough were granted exclusive access to the site for a documentary to be broadcast next week. 

Filmed over the course of three years at Tanis, the documentary will also give the public a first glimpse of other historic findings.

These will include fish that breathed in impact debris, a fossilised turtle that was skewered by a wooden stake and skin from a horned triceratops. 

Entitled ‘Dinosaurs: The Final Day with David Attenborough’, the documentary will be aired on BBC One on Friday, April 15.    

It’s already well known that the dinosaurs were wiped out by the Chicxulub impact event – a plummeting asteroid or comet that slammed into a shallow sea in what is today the Yucatán peninsula in Mexico around 66 million years ago. 

The findings were reported by the BBC after the corporation and Sir David Attenborough (pictured) were granted exclusive access to the site

Ian Kellett on location in Tanis, North Dakota filming one of the new findings – skin from a horned triceratops – whilst still in the ground

For those not killed directly by the impact, the collision released a huge dust and soot cloud that triggered global climate change, wiping out 75 per cent of all animal and plant species.    

All non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs, ammonites and most marine reptiles disappeared, whilst mammals, birds, crocodiles, and turtles survived. 

When the asteroid impacted Earth, it rocked the continental plate and caused huge waves in water bodies, such as rivers and lakes. 

Picture shows palaeontologist Robert DePalma working on a fossil at Tanis dig site in North Dakota US

These moved enormous volumes of sediment that engulfed fish and buried them alive, while impact spherules (glass beads of Earth rock) rained down from the sky, less than an hour after impact.     

Earlier this year, scientists announced that the Chicxulub impact event occurred in the northern hemisphere’s spring.

They studied bones of six fish that died less than 60 minutes after the asteroid impacted, recovered from Tanis, to reveal secrets about time of death.   

Entitled ‘Dinosaurs: The Final Day with David Attenborough’, the documentary will be aired on BBC One on Friday, April 15

The Chicxulub impact is widely believed to have caused the mass extinction event which made non-avian dinosaurs extinct (concept image)

KILLING OFF THE DINOSAURS: HOW A CITY-SIZED ASTEROID WIPED OUT 75 PER CENT OF ALL ANIMAL AND PLANT SPECIES

Around 66 million years ago non-avian dinosaurs were wiped out and more than half the world’s species were obliterated.

This mass extinction paved the way for the rise of mammals and the appearance of humans.

The Chicxulub asteroid is often cited as a potential cause of the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.

The asteroid slammed into a shallow sea in what is now the Gulf of Mexico.

The collision released a huge dust and soot cloud that triggered global climate change, wiping out 75 per cent of all animal and plant species.

Researchers claim that the soot necessary for such a global catastrophe could only have come from a direct impact on rocks in shallow water around Mexico, which are especially rich in hydrocarbons.

Within 10 hours of the impact, a massive tsunami waved ripped through the Gulf coast, experts believe.

Around 66 million years ago non-avian dinosaurs were wiped out and more than half the world’s species were obliterated. The Chicxulub asteroid is often cited as a potential cause of the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event (stock image)

This caused earthquakes and landslides in areas as far as Argentina. 

While investigating the event researchers found small particles of rock and other debris that was shot into the air when the asteroid crashed.

Called spherules, these small particles covered the planet with a thick layer of soot.

Experts explain that losing the light from the sun caused a complete collapse in the aquatic system.

This is because the phytoplankton base of almost all aquatic food chains would have been eliminated.

It’s believed that the more than 180 million years of evolution that brought the world to the Cretaceous point was destroyed in less than the lifetime of a Tyrannosaurus rex, which is about 20 to 30 years.