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Space Earth

Study Casts Doubt On Mammoth-Killing Cosmic Impact 19

schwit1 writes Rock soil droplets formed by heating most likely came from Stone Age house fires and not from a disastrous cosmic impact 12,900 years ago, according to new research from the University of California, Davis. The study, of soil from Syria, is the latest to discredit the controversial theory that a cosmic impact triggered the Younger Dryas cold period."
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Study Casts Doubt On Mammoth-Killing Cosmic Impact

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  • by Jesrad ( 716567 ) on Thursday January 08, 2015 @05:58AM (#48763235) Journal

    The study focuses solely on siliceous scoria droplets, says they were made from local rock in high temperature but conventional fires. Well, that's great to know, but the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis has agreed on that all along anyway. Those scoria were indeed local and made in fires - like the vast fires that spread everywhere after the airburst. The best evidence for the very high temperature and pressure associated with impact is not the siliceous scoria droplets, but the hexagonal-structure nanodiamonds (lonsdaleite) found all over the large zone sampled: http://test.scripts.psu.edu/de... [psu.edu]

    • I could not agree more. It's the widespread layering of strata that leads researchers to believe there was an impact. As you said "Those scoria were indeed local and made in fires - like the vast fires that spread everywhere after the airburst" So unless there were BILLIONS of fires lit over an ENORMOUS area then it wasn't "Stone age house fires".

      In addition I'd like to point out that there are countless studies that support the conclusion that a cosmic impact triggered the Younger Dryas cold period and
    • by gmhowell ( 26755 )

      Kudos. In the entire article, this might be the only comment worth reading.

      (OTOH, has Hasleton really been let go?)

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