The catastrophic event eradicated roughly 75% of the animal and plant species on Earth, including whole groups like non-avian dinosaurs and ammonites. According to the researchers, debris blasted into space by the Chicxulub impact circled the globe before reentering Earth’s atmosphere. Geological evidence indicates that the hot vapor later cooled into vast amounts of fine dust suspended in the atmosphere. The fine dust amplified that heating by trapping additional heat near the surface. Heat and Wildfires during the K-Pg Mass Extinction Enhanced by Fine Dust.