The most devastating asteroid to hit Earth - Sean P. S. Gulick

Prevodilac: Milenka Okuka Lektor: Ivana Krivokuca

66 million years ago, near what’s now the Yucatán Peninsula,

Pre 66 miliona godina, u blizini današnjeg poluostrva Jukatan,

a juvenile sauropod feasted on horsetail plants on a riverbank.

mladi sauropod se na rečnoj obali gostio biljkom rastavić.

Earth was a tropical planet.

Zemlja je bila tropska planeta.

Behemoth and tiny dinosaurs alike roamed its lands,

Giganti i slični sitni dinosaurusi su tumarali njenim kopnom,

while reptiles and tentacled ammonites swept its seas.

dok su reptili i prstasti amoniti krstarili njenim morima.

But, in an instant, everything would change.

Međutim, u jednom trenu, sve će da se promeni.

A roughly 12-kilometer-wide asteroid was careening toward Earth

Otprilike 12 kilometara širok asteroid je hrlio prema Zemlji

at around 20 kilometers per second.

brzinom od oko 20 kilometara u sekundi.

From where the sauropod stood,

Sa mesta na kom je sauropod stajao

there would have been no early warning signs.

nije bilo ranih znakova upozorenja.

The asteroid barreled through Earth's atmosphere in a matter of seconds

Asteroid se sjurio kroz Zemljinu atmosferu za svega nekoliko sekundi

and struck the Yucatán’s submerged continental shelf.

i pogodio je Jukatanov podvodni kontinentalni prag.

It exploded upon impact,

Eksplodirao je pri kontaktu,

instantaneously creating a 100-kilometer-wide hole

momentalno stvarajući rupu široku 100 kilometara

and ejecting sedimentary and crystalline rocks.

i izbacujući sedimentne i kristalne stene.

Within minutes, the impact crater, known today as Chicxulub,

U roku od nekoliko minuta, krater nastao pri udaru, danas poznat kao Čiksulub,

began collapsing inwards.

počeo je da se urušava ka unutra.

Meanwhile, the base rebounded some 20 kilometers above the Earth’s surface,

U međuvremenu, baza je odskočila nekih 20 kilometara iznad Zemljine površine,

then fell back down and moved outwards, creating a ring of mountains.

a potom se srušila i pomerila ka spolja, stvarajući planinski prsten.

The energy released from the asteroid’s impact is estimated to have been

Procenjuje se da je energija koju je oslobodio asteroid bila

several billion times that of a nuclear bomb.

nekoliko milijardi puta veća od nuklearne bombe.

The force sent seismic energy across the planet

Ta sila je poslala seizmičku energiju širom planete

at a much greater magnitude than any earthquake

daleko veće magnitude nego što ijedan zemljotres

a tectonic fault could ever produce.

izazvan tektonskim rasedom može da proizvede.

Massive landslides ensued.

Usledila su ogromna klizišta.

And a tsunami sped from the newly formed crater,

A iz novonastalog kratera pojurio je cunami,

potentially reaching 1,500 meters high.

potencijalno dosežući visinu od 1 500 metara.

Countless lives were extinguished.

Bezbrojni životi su ugašeni.

Some instantly: all life within 1,500 kilometers of the impact site

Neki istog trenutka: sav život 1 500 kilometara od mesta udara

was incinerated;

je bio pretvoren u pepeo;

others right after: by colossal waves, landslides, and hurricane force winds.

drugi neposredno potom: od strane kolosalnih talasa,

klizišta i vetrova uraganske siline.

But many organisms across the planet survived.

Ipak, mnogi organizmi širom planete su preživeli.

It was what came next that would bring about the end for many species,

Tek će ono što će uslediti da dovede do smrti mnogih vrsta,

including almost all dinosaurs.

uključujući i gotovo sve dinosauruse.

This was just the beginning of one of the most devastating periods

Ovo je samo bio početak jednog od najrazornijih razdoblja

in the history of life on Earth.

u istoriji života na Zemlji.

When the asteroid struck, it sent hundreds of gigatons

Kada je asteroid pao, poslao je stotine gigatona

of carbon-dioxide-rich limestone and sulfur-saturated-sediments

krečnjaka obogaćenog ugljen-dioksidom i sedimente zasićene sumporom

into the atmosphere.

u atmosferu.

The sulfur combined with water vapor to create sulfate aerosols.

Sumpor se spojio sa vodenim isparenjima i nastali su sulfatni aerosoli.

This plume of limestone dust, soot, and sulfate aerosols

Ovaj oblak od krečnjačke prašine, čađi i sulfatnih aerosoli

spread from the impact site at several kilometers per second,

se širio od mesta udara nekoliko kilometara u sekundi,

blanketing the globe in a matter of hours.

prekrivajući planetu u roku od nekoliko sati.

It’s thought to have blocked the Sun,

Smatra se da je blokirao sunce,

plunging Earth into an extended period of darkness

uronivši Zemlju u duži period mraka

and dropping the temperature in many places by at least 25°C.

i obarajući temperaturu na mnogim mestima za najmanje 25°C.

The asteroid’s immediate impact was devastating,

Trenutni uticaj asteroida je bio razoran,

but it seems to have been the rapid climate change it triggered

ali čini se da je ubrzana promena klime koju je pokrenuo

that ended the roughly 165-million-year reign of the dinosaurs.

ono što je okončalo vladavinu dinosaurusa dugu oko 165 miliona godina.

Plants and plankton rapidly died,

Biljke i planktoni su ubrzano izumirali,

causing the collapse of food webs worldwide.

uzorkujući slom lanaca ishrane širom sveta.

An estimated 75% of life on Earth went extinct,

Procenjuje se da je 75% života na Zemlji izumrlo,

including almost all dinosaurs.

uključujući gotovo sve dinosauruse.

Small birds were the only kinds that remained,

Sitne ptice su njihova jedina vrsta koja je opstala,

perhaps because they relied on hardy seeds that weathered the catastrophe.

verovatno jer su se oslanjale na otporne semenke koje su preživele katastrofu.

It's unclear why exactly the lifeforms that survived the extinction did.

Nije baš najjasnije zašto su određeni oblici života preživeli izumiranje.

Many smaller organisms, like insects, persisted.

Mnogi manji organizmi poput insekata su opstali.

So did early mammals— perhaps because of their ability to burrow and hibernate.

Kao i rani sisari - možda zbog svoje sposobnosti kopanja rupa i hibernacije.

And photosynthetic lifeforms like algae,

A životni oblici koji vrše fotosintezu, poput algi,

that had ways of withstanding low-light conditions,

koji su mogli da podnesu uslove slabije osvetljenosti,

also survived.

takođe su preživeli.

Traces of the asteroid scattered worldwide and the scar of the Chicxulub crater

Tragovi asteroida koji su se raspršili svetom i ožiljak kratera Čiksulub

attest to this period of monumental destruction.

svedoci su ovog razdoblja monumentalnog uništenja.

So, what are the chances of another Chicxulub happening?

Dakle, kolike su šanse da se još jedan Čiksulub desi?

Space programs are continuously identifying and tracking

Svemirski programi kontinuirano identifikuju i prate

near-Earth asteroids.

asteroide u blizini Zemlje.

Fortunately, the likelihood of one as large and cataclysmic

Srećom, čini se da je mala verovatnoća

striking in the next thousand or so years seems to be small—

jednako velikog i kataklizmičnog udara u narednih hiljadu godina -

something like a 7 in a million chance.

šansa je oko sedam u milion.

However, we are facing the consequences of another kind of rapid climate change,

Međutim, suočeni smo sa posledicama drugačijeg vida ubrzane promene klime,

this time because of humanity's own emissions.

ovaj put zbog ljudskih emisija.

Animals are going extinct faster than ever in our history,

Životinje izumiru brže nego ikad pre u našoj istoriji,

and people are being displaced from their homes.

a ljudi se raseljavaju iz svojih domova.

But, unlike the dinosaurs,

Međutim, za razliku od dinosaurusa,

we have the opportunity to avoid the large-scale devastation that will come

imamo priliku da izbegnemo uništenje velikih razmera

koje će da usledi ukoliko vlade nastave sa statusom kvo.

if governments continue with the status quo.