And what effect future strikes may have.
Piecing together the evidence is important as it helps scientists understand how impact events like the one in Yarrabubba might have affected the atmosphere, oceans, and life on Earth, and what effect future strikes may have.
I don't thing the future long term effects on the atmosphere, ocean and life on Earth will be of much importance to scientists, or anyone else, if the planet gets hit by an asteroid carrying enough energy to punch a 70-kilometre diameter hole in it.
After civilisation and agriculture have immediately collapsed, almost all of humanity will be dead within a year. The few scattered long term survivors eking out a stone age subsistence existence will have neither access to the research nor the resources to make use of it. Better to prevent the strike in the first place.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
