THE death of dinosaurs has been explained in unprecedented detail after scientists drilled almost a mile into the crater left by the asteroid that wiped them out.

Rocks were dug out that are “time capsules” of the day a giant asteroid smashed into Earth 66 million years ago. They contained bits of charcoal, granite and other sediments that were washed in by a 300ft tsunami.

Professor Sean Gulick, a geoscientist at Texas University in Austin, said: “They are all part of a rock record that offers the most detailed look yet into the aftermath of the catastrophe that ended the Age of Dinosaurs.”

Three-quarters of animal species were wiped out, including the largest ever land animals. Some were burned alive or drowned but most shivered and starved to death.

The impact blasted so much sulphur into the atmosphere it blocked out the sun, say the British and US-led team. Gulick described it as a short-lived regional inferno – followed by a long period of global cooling.

He said: “They fried or froze. Not all the dinosaurs died that day – but many dinosaurs did.”

Professor Gulick and Professor Joanna Morgan, co-leaders of The International Ocean Discovery Program, retrieved cores 1300m below the “Chicxulub” crater.

Lying 24 miles off the Yucatan Peninsula’s port in Mexico, it is more than 115 miles wide and 20 miles deep. Half is underwater and the rest covered by rain forest.

The team conducted their work aboard a boat that was converted into a 40 foot high drilling station standing on three pillar-like legs.

As they dug into the crust they pulled up cylindrical samples.

The findings confirm a theory that has been suggested, but never proven, for decades. It rules out other reasons for the extinction ranging from “super volcanoes” to prehistoric climate change.