// Sanford and his colleagues drilled into the crater in 2005 during a joint project with the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program, but it took several years to gather additional data that could determine the waters age. The find appears to clear up the long-standing mystery of why previously collected samples of deep groundwater from the same region of the Chesapeake Bay are so salty. Until now, scientists had various theories: Some proposed that buried salt in the rock slowly dissolved in the water. More recently, after the drilling under the crater in 2005, some suggested that the heat of the asteroid impact boiled much of the surrounding water and left it saltier than before. But when the scientists finally determined the age of Sanfords sample of water in 2012, they realized both the new specimens and previous groundwater specimens are seawater from a small section of the North Atlantic Ocean that has been trapped in place since the asteroid hit 35 million years ago. And they believe the water was just as salty then. Analyses of ancient seawater are very important in [that] they provide insight into the evolution of life and other ocean processes, Swart noted. //
Posted on: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 02:32:47 +0000
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