Ice Core Data Supports Younger Dryas Impact

[shawomet]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23536567

[Minimalist]

While the platinum data and the spherical particles add to evidence for an impact event, doubters have pointed out that - as yet - no impact site has been identified.

Apparently they won't be satisfied until someone can show them a hole!

[kbs2244]

I don’t know if the analogy applies…
But has anyone ever skipped stones across a pond?

You can get multiple splashes (impacts) with out the stone sinking.

Could it be that whatever it was just skipped over the atmosphere and went on its merry way.

[Frank Harrist]

Could have exploded in the lower atmosphere, I would think. Might still have the same effect. I've always liked this theory and it makes more sense to me than a few hunters causing a mass extinction. (That is what we're talking about ain't it?)

[Cognito]

... and it makes more sense to me than a few hunters causing a mass extinction

Yes, the Clovis First mammoth hunting gang that supposedly wandered their way into the Americas across Beringia and then wiped out most of the large American species within a very short timeframe.

Makes no sense since there is nothing similar to a Clovis point in Siberia, mammoths went in the opposite direction across Siberia from North America, and there were people in the Americas before Clovis.

There was still a huge ice sheet covering much of Canada at the onset of the Younger Dryas and some of the impacts could have landed on ice. However, you are likely correct - the atmosphere absorbed most of the debris. Still deadly.

[Minimalist]

Unread postby Frank Harrist » Sat Aug 10, 2013 12:05 pm

Holy Shit! This is even more rare than an asteroid stike!

Frank! You live.

And if it blows up over the ice sheet and then the ice sheet melts...not much evidence left.

[shawomet]

EP can better address this, but I think past a certain upper size, an impactor is expected to reach the ground? I think. The Russian meteor impact in Feb. was the size of a school bus. It did explode miles up, and most of the fragments reaching the ground were pebble size. No crater found. The explosion released the energy of many multiple Hiroshima's and shattered thousands of windows in the city of Chelybinsk, in the Ural Mountains. Had it actually reached ground before exploding, over 1 million casualties would have resulted, but it would not have been a climate changer. Again, EP will need to answer this, but I believe if the potential impactor is large enough, it will reach the ground. But, with glaciers there? I'm not sure we could expect to find a crater in any event if it landed on an ice sheet? No crater associated with the Tunguska event of 1908 either, but the blast flattened millions of trees. At the onset of the Younger Dryas, it seems reasonable an ice sheet might have prevented a crater, if it reached the surface, and was not entirely an aerial explosion. Was the ice sheet a mile or more in thickness at that point in time?

[Cognito]

EP can better address this, but I think past a certain upper size, an impactor is expected to reach the ground?

Also depends on the makeup of the impactor. A similar sized nickel-iron impactor will have a far better chance of striking the surface versus rock versus a loose conglomerate of ice and rock, etc.

The most likely scenario is that the impactor had already broken into multiple sections prior to entering the atmosphere. The resulting areas impacted would have been geographically extensive with deadly results.

[circumspice]

Unread postby Frank Harrist » Sat Aug 10, 2013 12:05 pm

Holy Shit! This is even more rare than an asteroid stike!

Frank! You live.

And if it blows up over the ice sheet and then the ice sheet melts...not much evidence left.

I thought the same thing!

[Frank Harrist]

Yep, I'm still around. Surviving takes most of my time now. Still no Social Security disability. Been fighting those bastards for 3 years just to get my own damn money.
I hadn't thought about a glacial impact. I think the glaciers were at least a couple miles thick and maybe up to 6 miles...or maybe not. The spherules indicate to me an aerial detonation. An event like Tunguska would have a serious impact on the fauna...IMO. Definitely scare the crap out of them and the humans. If it happened over the ice there would be evidence, but after the ice is gone the evidence would be very difficult to interpret. I still like the theory.
Also I'm certain that there were more human migrations to this continent than the land bridge. The evidence of the lithics being so different here than in Asia tells me that.

Having said all that I must say that I'm certainly no scientist, at least not in that particular field. I was at most an avocational archaeologist and volunteer.

Good to hear from you all too. Glad you're still here. I didn't find a Bigfoot, but I'm certain they do exist. I stopped hunting them because I think we should leave them in peace. Too many damn rednecks in the woods now, hootin' in the night. It just isn't safe for the Bigfoots or the rednecks...or me.
SEEYA!

[shawomet]

EP can better address this, but I think past a certain upper size, an impactor is expected to reach the ground?

Also depends on the makeup of the impactor. A similar sized nickel-iron impactor will have a far better chance of striking the surface versus rock versus a loose conglomerate of ice and rock, etc.

The most likely scenario is that the impactor had already broken into multiple sections prior to entering the atmosphere. The resulting areas impacted would have been geographically extensive with deadly results.

Good points. Even though the Chelybinsk meteorite was a stone, it actually only needed to detonate a few miles lower in the atmosphere then it actually did to do much more then break windows. If it had been a school bus size iron, I think the effects would have been worse.

[E.P. Grondine]

While the platinum data and the spherical particles add to evidence for an impact event, doubters have pointed out that - as yet - no impact site has been identified.

Apparently they won't be satisfied until someone can show them a hole!

If you remember the history of the dinosaurs killed by impact hypothesis, it took Chicxulub to close the case.

I have identified a possible astrobleme (crater) from this, but will need cash to document it.

[Frank Harrist]

Got any coordinates you can share with us, E.P? Can it be seen on Google Earth?

[E.P. Grondine]

Sorry Frank, but no.
Assuming that the feature is an astrobleme, I do not want the area nearby plundered of paleo-artifacts and impactites.

By the way, the inscribed object I discussed here last year turned out to be too fragile to mold.

[Frank Harrist]

I understand that, E. P.. If I had actually thought before I typed I would have known that. I forget that unscrupulous individuals can see this too. Good luck with your exploration of the site. Keep us updated as well as you can on that. I am really interested in this theory. I hope you can be the one to prove it to be true. Then I can say, "Hey I know that guy...kinda".