Science, the study also posits that the same asteroid created all of the Americas’ tropical rainforests. Around 66 million years ago, a seven-mile-wide meteor struck what is now the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Named the Chicxulub impactor, the meteor produced clouds of dust and ash and catapulted fragments of rock into the sky, triggering widespread wildfires. Over time, the devastating impact drove the extinction of around 75 percent of all plant and animal species on the planet, including all terrestrial dinosaurs. The disaster also drastically changed the environment across the globe. But its effect on tropical forests is less clear compared to temperate ecosystems.