Stoning is an old biblical punishment method, still used somewhere in the world. During the history of the Earth, our planet has met such stones several times.
During the 19th and most of 20th century meteor impacts to Earth were either not recognized or ont considered as an important factor in the evolution of life. This lack was caused by several factors of which I will not discuss here, yet.
Nowadays impacts and their ecological significance has been regocnized, most notably when people are discussing about the extinction of dinosaurs and huge impact that caused it.
Chicxulub is not the only one, though. In current knowlage atleast 7 mass-extinctions coincident with a medium to large sized impact event. These are:
1. Late Ordovician extinction –> Slate Islands crater 2. Late Devonian extinction –> Siljan & Woodleigh craters 3. End-Permian extinction –> Araguainha Dome and Bedout craters(?) 4. Late Triassic extinction –> Maniqouagan, Rochechouart, Obolon and Saint Martin craters [a possible chain impact] 5. End-Jurassic extinction –> Morokweng and Mjølnir craters 6. End-Cretaceous extinction –> Chicxulub crater 7. Late Eocene extinctions [Grande Coupure] –> Popigai and Chesapeake Bay craters
I have made here a short list of the craters over 10 km diameter, which I consider to have had some ecological effects, either locally or globally. These craters are listed in age-order.
Reference(s):
- Blum, J. D., 1993: Zircon can take the heat.
–Nature: Vol. 366, pp. 718 - Decar, J. v., 1998: Crater row.
–Nature: Vol. 392, pp. 131 - Hodge, P., 1994: Meteorite craters and impact structures of the Earth. pp. 1-124
–Cambridge University Press, London, 1994 - Gersonde, R., Kyte, F. T., Bleil, U., Diekmann, B., Flores, J. A., Gohl, K., Grahl, G., Hagen, R., Kuhn, G., Sierro, F. J. Völker, D., Abelmann, A. & Bostwick, J. A., 1997: Geological record and reconstruction of the late Pliocene impact of the Eltanin asteroid in the Southern Ocean.
–Nature: Vol. 390, 7 November, pp. 357-363 - Sharpton, V. L., Burke, K., Camargo-Zanoguera, A., Hall, S. A., Lee, D. S., Marín, L. E., Suárez-Reynoso, G., Quezada-Muñeton, J. M., Spudis, P. D. & Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J., 1993: Chicxulub multiring impact basin: Size and other characteristics derived from gravity analysis.
–Science: Vol. 261, pp. 1564-1567 - Spray, J. G., Kelley, S. P. & Rowley, D. B., 1998: Evidence for a late Triassic multiple impact event on Earth.
–Nature: Vol. 392, pp. 171-173 - Ward, W. C., Keller, G., Stinnesback, W. & Adatte, T., 1995: Yucatán subsurface stratigraphy: Implications and constraints for the Chicxulub impact.
–Geology: Vol. 23, #10, pp. 873-876