Asteroid impact, Schumann resonances and the end of dinosaurs

Highlights: • Expected magnitudes of the Schumann resonances after the Chicxulub impact are estimated. • Biological effects of ELF electromagnetic fields are reviewed. • Excitation and distortion of the Schumann resonances are considered as a stressor contributing to the dinosaur demise. It is believed that an asteroid/comet impact 65 million years ago ended the dinosaur era. The researchers named the corresponding impact crater Chicxulub, the Mayan word roughly translated as "the dragon's tail." We estimate the expected magnitudes of the Schumann resonance fields immediately after the Chicxulub impact and show that they exceed their present-day values by about $5\times {10}^4$ times. Long-term distortion of the Schumann resonance parameters is also expected due to the environmental impact of the Chicxulub event. If Schumann resonances play a regulatory biological role, as some studies indicate, it is possible that the excitation and distortion of Schumann resonances after the asteroid/comet impact was a possible stress factor, which, among other stress factors associated with the impact, contributed to the demise of dinosaurs.