Abstract
It is believed that numerous amount of sulfate was vaporized by the K/T impact. The degassed sulfur may have formed sulfuric acid aerosol quickly. Blockage of the sunlight by the sulfuric acid aerosol and sulfuric acid rain are ones of the most plausible killing mechanisms of the K/T event. The stay time of sulfuric acid aerosol in the atmosphere decides whether the blockage of the sunlight lasts for a long period of time or strong acid rain falls in a short time. Estimates of the stay time of the sulfuric acid aerosol particles by several previous studies are longer than several months [e.g., Pope et al., 1994 and Pierazzo et al., 2003]. However, these studies do not consider the interaction between the sulfuric acid aerosol particles and silicate dust particles. In this study, we assess whether the sulfuric acid aerosol particles coagulated with the silicate dust and estimate the stay time of the sulfuric acid aerosol particles in the atmosphere. The result of our theoretical model calculation shows that the sulfuric acid aerosol particles may have been swept out by the large silicate dusts. Most sulfuric acid aerosol particles may have fallen within several days as strong acid rain.
