😀 Started as an #XRF method project in my PhD and now wrapped up in my postdoc at @amgc-vub.bsky.social, thrilled with the outcome!
🙏 Huge thanks to my co-authors, @vubrussel.bsky.social @brukercorporation.bsky.social, @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social, Barringer Family Fund & @belspo.be for the support 🙌.

👨‍🔬 These results show that high-resolution chemical imaging can uncover the fine-scale dynamics of catastrophic events — not just what happened, but when and how.
🌍 This is perfect for decoding #meteorite #impact #stratigraphy, but also to study other rapid events on Earth in modern and deep time.

⏰ Instead of the classic “dual-layer” #ejecta model, we found 3 distinct sublayers:
1️⃣ Impact melt #spherules — c. 15 min after #Chicxulub impact
2️⃣ Basement mineral grains — <1 hr after impact
3️⃣ Fine dust rich in Zr (from #Yucatán granites) & Cr, Ni (from the #asteroid) — settled in <20 years.

🔬 We applied micro–X-ray fluorescence (#μXRF) mapping at 25 μm resolution + scanning electron microscopy to a K–Pg boundary slab from Colorado (Raton Basin) 🇺🇸.
☄️This non-destructive workflow reveals #ejecta products layer-by-layer — resolving events from minutes to decades after #Chicxulub.

Congratulations Marie with passing your PhD 👍! @tweetisaurus.bsky.social and I have just been checking out these days at NHM some of the Hypsilophodon samples for a new project and your work is super useful for this 🙏!

Thanks @sampvolcano.bsky.social 🙏! The premiere was great last week and we hope for more screenings in the following months 😁. Good question regarding the online availability, we will ask around what is possible 👌!

📅 Date & Location: Premiere is on Thursday 27 March 2025 at 20h at Kinepolis Leuven @kinepolisfrance.bsky.social.
🎟️ Update: the @docville.bsky.social premiere is already sold out, but on Wednesday 2nd April (19h30) there will be a 2nd screening. Ticket details are here: docville.be/film?id=1440... 😊

ℹ️ ☄️Come see our documentary that shows how one catastrophic day rewrote the course of life on Earth! More information on our documentary and research can be found here: press.vub.ac.be/how-a-catast...

🙏 🔬 We like to thank @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social, @belspo.be and @vubrussel.bsky.social for research funding, and Prof. Johan Vellekoop (@kuleuven.bsky.social and @naturalsciences-be.bsky.social) for joining us in the field and showing his love for microfossils.

🙏 🎥 We are grateful to film makers Maria and Frederik Stuut, the production team at #AssociateDirectors, @docville.bsky.social, @vrtnws.be, @vubrussel.bsky.social
for the nice collaboration. We also like to thank our colleagues @amgc-vub.bsky.social & @orb-ksb.bsky.social for their support.

🌍🤠 Through new geological fieldwork in North America and cutting-edge lab analyses @amgc-vub.bsky.social and computer simulations in Brussels, we reconstruct, minute after minute, how the dinosaurs vanished—and show why their story continues to captivate us.

☄️🦖 This film tells the fascinating yet tragic story of the day an #asteroid the size of #Brussels struck our planet and changed life forever. But what really happened after the #Chicxulub impact 66 million years ago? Follow the journey of the rock sample that we collected that tells this story.

Thank you also to my PhD supervisors Prof. Philippe Claeys and Prof. Steven Goderis (@amgc-vub.bsky.social) for their continuous support during my career and the opportunity to develop my geochemical skillset. I cannot wait to embark on this new adventure across the Channel later this year 🇬🇧 ! (5)

I will work on developing a new high-res geochemical toolbox for fossil bone and teeth from bonebeds 🦴🦷🦖🦕 to shed more light on the fossilization conditions and the paleobiology of extinct vertebrates together with improving dating techniques for poorly age-constrained fossil-rich rock layers ⏰ (4).