T. Rex and the Crater of Doom

Born in 1940, Walter Alvarez is a geologist and author from Berkeley, California. Alvarez studied geology at Carleton College and Princeton University, where he completed his PhD in 1967. Alvarez worked as a research geologist for American Overseas Petroleum and then for the Lamont Geological Observatory at Columbia University. In 1981, he became a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Alvarez continues to work at the Earth and Planetary Science graduate school at Berkeley, researching global tectonics, Earth history, and asteroid impacts.

Alvarez is best known in his field for his “impact hypothesis,” the theory that an asteroid impact triggered the mass extinction of the dinosaurs and other species at the end of the Cretaceous period. While researching plate tectonics in Gubbio, Italy, Alvarez became interested in the KT boundary: the rock layer marking the end of the Cretaceous period and the beginning of the Tertiary period. The sudden shift in materials and fossils in the rock convinced Alvarez that an abrupt mass extinction event occurred at that time, and he hypothesized that a catastrophic event, such as an asteroid impact, was the cause. When he formally articulated this hypothesis in the early 1980s, it was highly controversial among geologists: Many doubted that a catastrophic event could trigger mass extinction. Throughout the 1980s, Alvarez and an ever-widening circle of scientific colleagues continued researching the late Cretaceous period, and he was among the first to piece together the Yucatan impact event in the early 1990s.

Alvarez’s book T. Rex and the Crater of Doom draws on his scientific expertise on this subject and his passion for research and discovery. Detailed descriptions and photos of his field work provide an immersive account of his quest to understand the mass extinction event of the late Cretaceous period and an intimate, glimpse into a geologist’s world. His firsthand experience studying rock outcroppings around the world—from Gubbio, Italy, to the Danish coast, to Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula—are evident in how he conveys his understanding of the world’s rock layers both scientifically and descriptively. In his scientific passages, Alvarez breaks down geological concepts in accessible language to explain how he and his colleagues perform their work. For instance, he explains the concept of stratigraphy and the definition of various rock materials. He marries this scientific approach with more descriptive prose, which helps readers envision the sites and the different experts working to understand them. By combining his talent for descriptive writing with his expertise as a geologist, Alvarez engages and educates readers of all academic backgrounds, enabling them to experience solving the “mystery” of the Chicxulub impact alongside him.