Columbo Solves
a 65 Million Year-Old
Mysteryby
Harold Richman
"Chief, I have been going through the files of unsolved cases and I found one that's been on our books for 65 million years."
"Pat, I remember that case. It involved the elimination of a very notorious family including the Godfather, Tyrannosaurus Rex. We tried to solve the case many times but without success. Now that you have brought it to my attention, I think we will ask Lieutenant Columbo to take a crack at it. He always sees things from a different point of view."
"You mean because of his glass eye?"
"No. It's because he collects all the facts and lets them stew until he comes up with a solution. Ask Columbo to come in."
- - - "Columbo, we have an unsolved mystery here that we would like you to investigate. It involves the elimination of a complete family including the Godfather, Tyrannosaurus Rex. The crime took place at three o'clock in the afternoon 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous period."
"Chief, the trail must be pretty cool after all these years, but I will do my best. Is there a corpse?"
"We have no shortage of corpses. We found evidence on every continent in the world except Australia. In fact there were many other species that were exterminated at the same time. Perhaps they were caught in the crossfire. Here is the file with all the information we have collected."
Columbo takes the file and leaves the chief's office. A couple of minutes later he returns and knocks on the door, enters the chief's office and says, "Please excuse me, Chief. Don't get up. I just forgot my raincoat. I'll just pick it up and be on my way."
Columbo takes the file home and studies all the information very meticulously. It appears that something very unusual occurred at the end of the Cretaceous period causing the extinction of the dinosaurs which had been the dominant form of life for over 150 million years.'
Columbo wonders what could possibly have happened at the end of the Cretaceous period. He remembers a classmate of his, Walter Alvarez, who is now a professor of geology at Berkeley. He calls Walter and makes an appointment at his office for the following day.
"Walter, it's great to see you after all these years. I'm investigating a very unusual case and I thought you could help me. I am trying to find the reason for the disappearance of the dinosaur at the end of the Cretaceous period. Do you know of any suspicious or unusual events that took place at that time?"
"Columbo, by an amazing coincidence I have recently returned from Italy where I was studying the K-T boundary. This is the dividing line between the end of the Cretaceous and the start of the Tertiary."
"But Walter, I thought that Cretaceous starts with a 'C', so shouldn't it be called C-T boundary?"
"That's very perceptive of you, Columbo, The original investigation of the boundary was done by German scientists. Cretaceous means "chalk" and in German the word for chalk is "Kreide" which starts with a 'K'. They therefore called it the K-T boundary.
"While I was studying the rock outcrop in Italy that contained the boundary, I discovered a thin layer of clay about two centimeters thick that divided the Cretaceous from the Tertiary. Since my discovery of the clay layer in Italy, other scientists have found it in many parts of the world so it appears that what happened at the end of the Cretaceous period occurred all over the world. I studied the clay and could find nothing unusual. However, I decided to show the sample to my father, Luis."
"I remember your father well, I sent him a note congratulating him on his Nobel Prize for physics in 1968."
"My father has a research lab where they can analyze very minute quantities of an element. He has just called me to say that he has the results. He sounded very excited and asked me to come over immediately. Why don't you come with me as he may have some information that might help you solve the case."
- - - When they enter Luis' office, he excitedly relates his findings.
"When I started my analysis I did not find anything unusual about the clay sample that you brought me. All the elements that you normally would find in clay were present so I decided to check for some of the very rare elements found on earth. When I ran my test for the element iridium, I couldn't believe my results, so I repeated the test. The two tests produced exactly the same figures."
"Professor Alvarez, what is so unusual about iridium?"
"Iridium found in rocks on earth is found in very small quantities, measured in less than one part per billion. The clay sample that Walter brought me has concentrations of iridium 300 times that normally found."
"What could account for the high concentration of iridium in the clay sample?"
"There is only one possible explanation. It must have been brought to earth by a large extraterrestrial object such as an asteroid. Meteors found on earth may contain as much as 5% iridium. It is therefore my opinion that an asteroid struck the earth at the end of the Cretaceous period causing the extinction of the dinosaurs."
- - -
Walter returns to his office with Columbo and says, "I will calculate the size of the asteroid that could cause the extinction of the dinosaurs as well as 75% of all species living at the time."
A week later Walter calls Columbo to come to his office to see the results of his calculations. The asteroid would have had to have been 10 km in diameter which would be larger than Mount Everest, and it would have struck the earth at a speed of 30 km per second. This would have produced a crater 200 km in diameter and ejected enough material into the atmosphere to obscure the sun for six months. This would have caused the extinction of 75% of the species living at that time."
"Well, if this is so, we should be able to find a crater 200 km in diameter."
"I've already searched the literature of all the craters that have been identified to date but have not been able to find one of the right size and age to be the one that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. The impact may have been over water so the crater would not be visible. The most likely location is off the Yucatan Peninsula. The Mexican oil company Pemex has done considerable drilling in the area and we will study their drill cores to find any evidence of a crater."
- - - A week later Walter phones Columbo and asks him to come to his office.
"I have great news. The drill cores contain fragments of petrified wood. This means that the impact was over water and caused a giant tsunami that would have had a wall of water a kilometer high. When this water hit the shore complete forests would have been devastated and washed out to sea. Columbo, this is the proof you have been searching for."
- - -
Columbo takes a sample of the petrified wood as evidence and reports to the Chief. "I have found the modus operandi and the smoking gun. Mind you, finding a smoking gun under 200 feet of water was not easy."