images

Tylosaur and KT Event - Artist view

by

Julius T. Csotonyi/Novapix

Reference

a-ast99-90026

Date

2010-04-17

The very end of the Mesozoic is marked by evidence of a devastating asteroid impact 65 million years ago, which is termed the KT event, referring to the Cretaceous (K)-Tertiary (T) transition. This impact likely contributed to the demise of the dinosaurs, although recent findings call into question how decisive the blow actually was. In this image, a huge tylosaur, a relative of today's varanid lizards such as the Komodo dragon, faces its last few minutes of existence in a Texas lagoon. Over the horizon looms the rising ejecta from the KT impact, which occurred in what is today the Yucatan.