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An impact at Chicxulub, Mexico, occurred 66 million years ago, producing a global stratigraphic layer that marks the boundary between the Cretaceous and Paleogene eras. That layer contains elevated concentrations of platinum-group elements, including ruthenium. We measured ruthenium isotopes in samples taken from three Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary sites, five other impacts that occurred between 36 million to 470 million years ago, and ancient 3.5-billion- to 3.2-billion-year-old impact spherule layers. Our data indicate that the Chicxulub impactor was a carbonaceous-type asteroid, which had formed beyond the orbit of Jupiter. The five other impact structures have isotopic signatures that are more consistent with siliceous-type asteroids, which formed closer to the Sun. The ancient spherule layer samples are consistent with impacts of carbonaceous-type asteroids during Earth's final stages of accretion.
Fischer-Gödde et al. (Thu,) studied this question.