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Dr Nesvorny, who is the study’s lead author, was quoted by LiveScience saying: “I had a suspicion that the outer half of the asteroid belt – that’s where the dark primitive asteroids are – may be an important source of terrestrial impactors.
“But I did not expect that the results [would] be so definitive,” adding that this might not be true for smaller impactors.
The Chicxulub impact created a crater measuring about 90 miles (150km) across and triggered a mass extinction.
An analysis of material collected from the Yucatan Peninsula indicates the killer asteroid belonged to a family of carbonaceous chondrites – primitive space rocks rich in carbon.
In the new study, which will be presented in the November 2021 issue of Icarus, the researchers developed computer models simulating the escape of space rocks from the belt and towards the Earth.
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