Rapid recovery of life at ground zero of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.

The Cretaceous/Palaeogene mass extinction eradicated 76% of species on Earth. It was caused by the impact of an asteroid on the Yucatán carbonate platform in the southern Gulf of Mexico 66 million years ago , forming the Chicxulub impact crater. After the mass extinction, the recovery of the global marine ecosystem-measured as primary productivity-was geographically heterogeneous ; export production in the Gulf of Mexico and North Atlantic-western Tethys was slower than in most other regions, taking 300 thousand years (kyr) to return to levels similar to those of the Late Cretaceous period.

The formation of peak rings in large impact craters.

Large impacts provide a mechanism for resurfacing planets through mixing near-surface rocks with deeper material. Central peaks are formed from the dynamic uplift of rocks during crater formation. As crater size increases, central peaks transition to peak rings.