By . Damien Gayle . PUBLISHED: . 14:34 EST, 7 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 14:36 EST, 7 February 2013 . Dinosaurs vanished earlier than previously thought and 'within a gnat's eyebrow' of the cataclysmic meteor impact blamed for their extinction, say scientists. Corrected dates for both events suggest they occurred almost at the same time, around 66million years ago. Previous studies indicated that the impact pre-dated the death of the dinosaurs by as much as 300,000 years. Previous studies suggested that a cataclysmic meteor pre-dated the death of dinosaurs by as much as 300,000 years - but new research shows they occurred within 33,000 years of each other . The disaster was probably the 'final straw' for the dinosaurs but may not have been the only reason the reptiles which ruled the world for more than 150million years died out, scientists believe. A 110-mile crater in the Caribbean off the coast of Mexico marks the spot where a six-mile-wide object, either an asteroid or comet, smashed into the Earth. Clues to the event remain in the form of iridium-enriched dust, glassy spheres and shocked quartz that was spread around the planet. Scientists used new radioactive dating techniques to determine both the date of the impact and that of the dinosaurs' extinction. The research, published in the journal Science, shows they occurred within 33,000 years of each other. A 110-mile crater in the Caribbean off the coast of Mexico marks the spot where a six-mile-wide object, either an asteroid or comet, smashed into the Earth . Lead scientist Professor Paul Renne, from the University of California at Berkeley, U.S., said: 'The impact was clearly the final straw that pushed Earth past the tipping point. 'We have shown that these events are synchronous to within a gnat's eyebrow, and therefore the impact clearly played a major role in extinctions, but it probably wasn't just the impact.' Dramatic climate fluctuations over the previous million years, including long cold snaps, may have brought many creatures to the brink of extinction before the meteor struck, he said. 'These precursory phenomena made the global ecosystem much more sensitive to even small triggers, so that what otherwise might have been a fairly minor effect shifted the ecosystem into a new state,' Prof Renne added. 'The impact was the coup de grace.' The researchers also concluded that the Earth's atmospheric carbon cycle returned to normal within about 5,000 years of the impact. In contrast, it took between one and two million years for the oceans to recover.
110-mile crater off Mexico marks spot where 6mile-wide object hit Earth .
Previous studies showed impact pre-dated death of dinosaurs by as much as 300,000 years .
Two events now believed to have occurred within 33,000 years of each other .
By . Damien Gayle . PUBLISHED: . 14:34 EST, 7 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 14:36 EST, 7 February 2013 . Dinosaurs vanished earlier than previously thought and 'within a gnat's eyebrow' of the cataclysmic meteor impact blamed for their extinction, say scientists. Corrected dates for both events suggest they occurred almost at the same time, around 66million years ago. Previous studies indicated that the impact pre-dated the death of the dinosaurs by as much as 300,000 years. Previous studies suggested that a cataclysmic meteor pre-dated the death of dinosaurs by as much as 300,000 years - but new research shows they occurred within 33,000 years of each other . The disaster was probably the 'final straw' for the dinosaurs but may not have been the only reason the reptiles which ruled the world for more than 150million years died out, scientists believe. A 110-mile crater in the Caribbean off the coast of Mexico marks the spot where a six-mile-wide object, either an asteroid or comet, smashed into the Earth. Clues to the event remain in the form of iridium-enriched dust, glassy spheres and shocked quartz that was spread around the planet. Scientists used new radioactive dating techniques to determine both the date of the impact and that of the dinosaurs' extinction. The research, published in the journal Science, shows they occurred within 33,000 years of each other. A 110-mile crater in the Caribbean off the coast of Mexico marks the spot where a six-mile-wide object, either an asteroid or comet, smashed into the Earth . Lead scientist Professor Paul Renne, from the University of California at Berkeley, U.S., said: 'The impact was clearly the final straw that pushed Earth past the tipping point. 'We have shown that these events are synchronous to within a gnat's eyebrow, and therefore the impact clearly played a major role in extinctions, but it probably wasn't just the impact.' Dramatic climate fluctuations over the previous million years, including long cold snaps, may have brought many creatures to the brink of extinction before the meteor struck, he said. 'These precursory phenomena made the global ecosystem much more sensitive to even small triggers, so that what otherwise might have been a fairly minor effect shifted the ecosystem into a new state,' Prof Renne added. 'The impact was the coup de grace.' The researchers also concluded that the Earth's atmospheric carbon cycle returned to normal within about 5,000 years of the impact. In contrast, it took between one and two million years for the oceans to recover.
studies indicated that the impact pre-dated the death of the dinosaurs by as much as 300,000 research shows they occurred within 33,000 years Caribbean off the coast of Mexico marks the spot 33,000 years of each other. A 110-mile crater in