ABSTRACT
Jan Smit has given us an interesting description of some global-scale catastrophes that are experientially unfamiliar to us. The catastrophes with the largest impact probably have been caused by large meteorites. A large meteorite could have caused something like the K/T boundary extinctions 65 million years ago, although there still are uncertainties about the precise mechanisms that led to the extinctions. The last time a really significant meteorite fell on our predecessors’ heads was some 35 million years ago – which event, by the way, was not accompanied by a mass extinction of species. Can we predict when the next major impact will be and what the consequences will be? No, at this moment we cannot. We can only say with confidence that some time in the next few tens of millions of years another major meteorite impact will happen and probably that not all life will disappear from Earth after such an event. Maybe even humans – if still around – may survive.
