| About 135 million years ago, the fall of a meteorite dug a zone of 13.6 square miles (20 square kilometers) of diameter in the current Australian Northern Territory. Gosses Bluff, also called Tnorala by the Aborigines, a crater that is 3.1 miles (5 kilometers) in diameter and 492 feet (150 meters) high remains. Every year, thousands of meteorites fall on Earth. They are usually less than 3.2 feet (1 meter) in diameter and they crumble and burn as they enter the atmosphere. They then fall to the ground as dust. However, even though it is rare, if meteorites or asteroids that are more than 32.8 feet (10 meters) in diameter fall on Earth, they can cause considerable damage like the extinction of species on the whole planet. This is what is said to have caused the disappearance of dinosaurs 65 million years ago. These massive extinctions are not only a thing of the past and are not always caused by extraterrestrial factors: we are now experiencing the sixth great wave of extinctions in the Earth’s history. This time, it can be attributed to man’s actions.
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