What would happen if Earth was hit by another giant asteroid the size of the one that killed off the dinosaurs, but in the following places:
- The middle of the Pacific or Atlantic Oceans?
- The North Pole?
Would those two locations be significantly different from an asteroid landing in the center of a continent?
What are the odds that an asteroid will land on a continent (assuming it even matters)?
Also: does it matter if the asteroid is on a direct, head-on collision course? What if it gently gets pulled in by Earth’s gravity from a tangential course?
Thanks in advance for any replies.
The ocean would be a more devastating impact than on a continent. The impactor would punch through the thinner oceanic crust, creating an open magma “wound,” which the seawater would then pour onto and flash into steam clouds. Until the surface of the astrobleme “scabbed” over again with igneous rock the cloud cover would just continue to close over the planet. I have no figures handy for the amount of time needed to return to normalcy, nor for the weather changes due to the increase in albedo.
An impactor would hit just as hard coming “straight in” as it would being “gently” pulled in. The amount of energy released falling from infinity to Earth is not dependant upon the angle of impact.
Hitting the south pole would be like hitting a continent, but the north pole, wouldn’t that serve as “extra armor” there? Wouldn’t it serve to minimize the magma wound?
If it hits a continent, we die instantly. If it hits the ocean, we die slowly and painfully. I would think since that the Earth is about 70% ocean that an asteroid would have a 70% chance of landing in the ocean.
Maybe if we got all one billion Chinese to jump at the same time, we could nudge Earth out of the way.