It is generally assumed by the vast majority of conventional scientists that an asteroid caused the extinction of 75% of all species on Earth, including the dinosaurs, at the K-Pg (Cretaceous-Paleogene) Boundary.¹ These extinctions even extended into the marine realm, killing off the ammonites, an animal similar to today’s chambered nautilus. However, new research by an international team of conventional paleontologists, led by Marcin Machalski of the Polish Academy of Sciences, reveals evidence that ammonites did not go extinct at the K-Pg Boundary after all.² What does this mean for the extinction-by-asteroid theory?

Publishing in Scientific Reports, the team detailed their examination of the Paleogene Cerithium Limestone at Stevns Klint, eastern Denmark.³ Although they found evidence that some ammonites in the limestone might have been “reworked” from fossils buried below, the majority of the ammonite fossils seem to have been deposited in place and mostly above the K-Pg.^2,4

The team concluded, “In summary, our results confirm ammonite survival into the Danian for the bulk of the Cerithium Limestone fauna, stimulating questions for further research of what actually killed the last ammonites that lived on Earth.”² Then they added, “The question remains as to what, if not the commonly invoked impact-related acidification of surface waters, caused their final eradication from the early Danian [Paleogene] shallow-marine habitats in Denmark and elsewhere.”²

At ICR, we have a better explanation for the alleged K-Pg extinction and the disappearance of the ammonites in the fossil record. Most extinction events described by conventional scientists are not really extinctions at all. They are merely the last occurrence of a species, or many species at about the same level, in the rock record. Every so-called living fossil verifies this conclusion.⁵

So, why do we find apparent extinctions in the rock record? The best answer is the progressive global Flood that occurred about 4,500 years ago. As the water rose higher, it inundated complete ecological zones and mixed them with marine fossils brought inland by the rising Flood waves.⁶ Then, as the water rose even higher to the next ecological zone, it buried new types of animals and plants that lived at higher elevations in the pre-Flood world.⁷ The sudden changes in the fossils buried at each level and between one zone and the next give the appearance of an extinction event.

This interpretation also better explains why we have living fossils. They never really went extinct—they just didn’t get fossilized after a certain level. The ammonites may be like the coelacanths in that they might have survived the Flood and lived in the seas much more recently than thought. It’s remotely possible there are even some still alive today.

Moreover, finding evidence that the ammonites didn’t go extinct at the K-Pg further weakens the case for the asteroid hypothesis. Keep in mind that not all conventional paleontologists agree that an asteroid caused the K-Pg “extinction.”⁸ In fact, there is not even a surface crater at the claimed Yucatán Chicxulub site, nor is there enough melted rock underground to justify the size of the claimed asteroid.⁹

On top of that, there is very little iridium found in the 10 oil wells and cores collected at the site. Only three have any trace of iridium.¹⁰ Why don’t the other wells have a distinguishable anomaly if iridium-rich dust was blasted upward by a large impact, blanketing the entire globe in iridium, according to theory? If the Chicxulub site is supposed to be the “smoking gun,” where’s the smoke?⁹

People forget that volcanoes produce iridium too.⁹ And iridium-rich layers are found at many levels in the rock record, especially in the later Flood rocks when volcanoes were close to the peak of their activity.⁶

The global Flood was a real historical event. It didn’t require asteroids to kill off the animals. The rocks reflect sudden burial caused by a rising progressive Flood. Each new ecological zone was different from the previous zone, making fossils appear and disappear suddenly. The Flood was a water judgment by the Lord Jesus for the wickedness of the world. When dismissed and ignored, it leads to faulty interpretations and explanations that constantly have to be changed.

References

1. Arnold, P. Ammonites Survived Asteroid Impact that Killed off Dinosaurs, New Evidence Suggests. Phys.org. Posted on phys.org January 7, 2026, accessed March 23, 2026.
2. Machalski, M. et al. 2025. Ammonite Survival Across the Cretaceous–Paleogene Boundary Confirmed by New Data from Denmark. Scientific Reports. 15, article 45802.
3. Paleogene is the name given to rocks deposited right after the more famous dinosaur-bearing Cretaceous System rocks. It is the lowermost unit of the old Tertiary System and is generally included as the base of the Tejas Megasequence. K-Pg (formerly K-T) stands for Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary.
4. “Reworked” means a fossil was eroded from layers previously deposited and transported and redeposited higher in the rock record. This is similar to erosion creating loose pebbles and redepositing them within a higher bed.
5. Living fossils are organisms that disappear in the rock record at some point but are still found alive today, such as the coelacanth fish. It was supposed to have gone extinct in the Cretaceous, as it is last found in these rock layers, but the fish still has near-identical living descendants swimming in the deep Indian Ocean.
6. Clarey, T. 2020. Carved in Stone: Geological Evidence of the Worldwide Flood. Dallas, TX: Institute for Creation Research.
7. Tomkins, J. P. 2023. The Fossils Still Say No: Paleontology of the Global Flood. Dallas, TX: Institute for Creation Research.
8. Kale, V. S. et al. 2026. Spatio-Temporal Volume Recalibration Shows Deccan Volcanism Caused Terminal Cretaceous Mass Extinction. GSA Bulletin. 138 (3-4): 1749–1758.
9. Clarey, T. 2017. Do the Data Support a Large Meteorite Impact at Chicxulub? Answers Research Journal. 10: 71–88.
10. Iridium is a rare element on Earth. It is commonly found in asteroids but is also produced by explosive composite volcanoes.

* Dr. Clarey is the director of research at the Institute for Creation Research and earned his doctorate in geology from Western Michigan University.