Including Original "Paul H. Letters" Copyright © 1996-2024 Paul V. Heinrich / website © 1996-2024 Dirk Ross - All rights reserved.



Tuesday 19 March 2024

Online PDF files Of Monographs About Trilobites and La Brea Tar Pits 03JAN2016

Online PDF files Of Monographs About Trilobites and La Brea Tar Pits

Happy New Year.

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County has PDF versions of its publications about their research online. They included a monograph about Cambrian trilobites and another about fossils from the La Brea Tar Pits. They are:

Sundberg, Frederick A, 1994, Corynexochida and Ptychopariida (Trilobita, Arthropoda) of the Ehmaniella Biozone (Middle Cambrian),
Utah and Nevada. Contributions in Science no. 446. Los Angeles :
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County,
http://www.nhm.org/site/sites/default/files/pdf/contrib_science/CS446.pdf

http://www.nhm.org/site/research-collections/research-tools/publications


Harris, J. M., ed., 2015, La Brea and Beyond: The Paleontology of Asphalt-Preserved Biotas. Science Series no. 42. Los Angeles :
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County,
http://www.nhm.org/site/sites/default/files/pdf/contrib_science/lacm-42.pdf

http://www.nhm.org/site/research-collections/research-tools/publications


There are several more monographs about fossils at:
http://www.nhm.org/site/research-collections/research-tools/publications

Yours,

Paul H.

Did a Supernova Kill Earth's Marine Megafauna 2.5 Million Years Ago? 16DEC2018

Did a Supernova Kill Earth's Marine Megafauna 2.5 Million Years Ago?

Megalodon may have been killed off by Supernova radiation, Hannah Osborne, Newsweek, December 13, 2018
https://www.newsweek.com/megalodon-extinct-shark-supernova-cosmic-ray-cancer-mutations-1256980

Massive supernova explosion may have wiped out giant prehistoric sharks, scientists say. Megalodon may have been among creatures driven to extinction after cosmic particles drove up cancer rates, new study claims
The Independent, Josh Gabbatiss, December 2018
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/supernova-stars-explosion-giant-sharks-prehistoric-megalodon-extinction-science-a8679636.html

The paper is;

Adrian L. Melott, Franciole Marinho, and Laura Paulucci 2018, Hypothesis: Muon Radiation Dose and Marine
Megafaunal Extinction at the End-Pliocene Supernova.
Astrobiology, Published Online, November 27, 2018
https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2018.1902

Yours,

Paul H.

Earth's oldest rock was found on the moon ?? 26JAN2019

 Earth's oldest rock was found on the moon ??

Earth's oldest rock was found by Apollo 14 astronauts -- on the moon. Ashley Strickland, CNN, January 24, 2019
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/24/world/earth-oldest-rock-moon/index.html

We May Have Found Earth's Oldest Known Rock. It Was on The Moon. Michelle Starr, January 25, 2019
https://www.sciencealert.com/earth-s-oldest-rock-may-have-been-found-it-was-um-on-the-moon

The paper is:

J.J. Bellucci, A.A. Nemchin, M. Grange, K.L. Robinson, G. Collinse, M.J. Whitehouse, J.F. Snape, M.D.Norman D.A.Krin
Terrestrial-like zircon in a clast from an Apollo 14 breccia
Earth and Planetary Science Letters. Volume 510, Pages 173-185
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X19300202

Yours,

Paul H.

Fossil Hunting on the Moon in Terrestrial Meteorites 26JAN2019

Fossil Hunting on the Moon in Terrestrial Meteorites

Burchell, M.J., McDermott, K.H., Price, M.C. and Yolland, L.J., 2014. Survival of fossils under extreme shocks induced by hypervelocity impacts. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A, 372(2023), p.20130190.
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsta.2013.0190

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/30704804.pdf

The abstract states:
“This is the first demonstration that fossils can survive and be transferred from projectile to target in hypervelocity impacts, implying that
it is possible that, as suggested by other authors, terrestrial rocks ejected from the Earth by giant impacts from space, and which then strike the Moon, may successfully transfer terrestrial fossils to the Moon.”

Related papers are:

Armstrong, J.C., Wells, L.E., and Gonzales, G. 2002
Rummaging through Earth’s attic for remains of ancient life. Icarus 160, 183–196. (doi:10.1006/icar.2002.6957)
https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0207316

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.338.3602&rep=rep1&type=pdf


Crawford, I.A., Baldwin, E.C., Taylor, E.A., Bailey, J.A. and Tsembelis, K., 2008. 
On the survivability and detectability of terrestrial meteorites on the Moon. Astrobiology, 8(2), pp.242-252.
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/141213907.pdf

Asphaug, E., 2013. Planetary science: Go and catch a falling star.
Nature Geoscience, 6(6), p.422.
https://repository.asu.edu/items/18264

Yours,

Paul H.

Large Paleozoic Impact Crater Strewn Field in the Rocky Mountains (Open Access ) 19JAN2019

Large Paleozoic Impact Crater Strewn Field in the Rocky Mountains (Open Access )
 
Below is an interesting open access paper.

Kenkmann, T., Sundell, K.A. and Cook, D., 2018. 
Evidence for a large Paleozoic Impact Crater Strewn Field in the Rocky Mountains.
Scientific reports, 8(1), p.13246.
https://europepmc.org/articles/pmc6125292

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-31655-4/

Yours,

Paul H.

Thursday 14 March 2024

Claims of Extrasolar Spherules from Pacific Ocean Site CNEOS 2014-01-08 Disputed 14MAR2024

Claims of Extrasolar Spherules from Pacific Ocean Site CNEOS 2014-01-08 Disputed

Recently, a preprint has been posted to the arXiv site that disputes proposal that Be,La,U-rich spherules recovered form
Pacific Ocean Site CNEOS 2014-01-0 are from an extrasolar origin. Instead, they argued to be microtektites of terrestrial lateritic sandstone.

The preprint is:

Desch, S., 2024. Be, La, U-rich spherules as microtektites of terrestrial laterites: What goes up must come down. arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.05161.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.05161

https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2403/2403.05161.pdf


The proposed extrasolar spherules are discussed in:

Loeb, A., Adamson, T., Bergstrom, S., Cloete, R., Cohen, S., Conrad, K., Domine, L., Fu, H., Hoskinson, C., Hyung, E., Jacobsen, S., Kelly, M., Kohn, J., Lard, E., Lam, S., Laukien, F., Lem, J., McCallum, R., Millsap, R., Parendo, C., Petaev, M., Peddeti, C., Pugh, K., Samuha, S., Sasselov, D., Schlereth, M., Siler, J.J., Siraj, A., Smith, P.M., Tagle, R., Taylor, J., Weed, R., Wright, A., and Wynn, J. 2023.,

Discovery of Spherules of likely extrasolar composition in the Pacific Ocean site of the CNEOS 2014-01-08 (IM1) bolide. 
Loeb, A., Adamson, T., Bergstrom, S., Cloete, R., Cohen, S., Conrad, K., Domine, L., Fu, H., Hoskinson, C., Hyung, E., Jacobsen, S., Kelly, M., Kohn, J., Lard, E., Laukien, F., Lem, J., McCallum, R., Millsap, R., Parendo, C., Petaev, M., Peddeti, C., Pugh, K., Samuha, S., Sasselov, D., Schlereth, M., Siler, J.J., Siraj, A., Smith, P.M., Tagle, R., Taylor, J., Weed, R., Wright, A., and Wynn, J. 2024. 
Recovery and classification of spherules from the Pacific Ocean site of the CNEOS 2014 January 8 (IM1) bolide.
Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society 8: 39.
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2515-5172/ad2370/meta


Related paper, reprint and press release:
Desch, S., and Jackson, A., 2023. Critique of arXiv submission 2308.15623, "Discovery of Spherules of Likely Extrasolar Composition in the Pacific Ocean Site of the CNEOS 2014-01-08 (IM1) Bolide", by A. Loeb et al arXiv:2311.07699
https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.07699

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2311.07699.pdf


'Alien' spherules dredged from the Pacific are probably just industrial pollution, new studies suggest. LiveScience, Nov. 16, 2023
https://www.livescience.com/space/extraterrestrial-life/alien-spherules-dredged-from-the-pacific-are-probably-just-industrial-pollution-new-studies-suggest


Gallardo, P.A., 2023. Anthropogenic Coal Ash as a Contaminant in a Micro-meteoritic Underwater Search. 
Research Notes of the AAS, 7(10), p.220.
http://ispcjournal.org/journals/2024/32/PhC_vol_32_Lomas.pdf

Yours,

Paul H.

Saturday 9 March 2024

Interstellar Meteorite was Just a Truck 09MAR2024

Interstellar Meteorite was Just a Truck

Interstellar Signal Linked to Aliens was Actually Just a Truck
  The findings from a Johns Hopkins University-led team raise doubts that materials pulled last year from the ocean are alien
materials from a 2014 meteor fireball John Hopkins University, HUB, March 7, 2024
https://hub.jhu.edu/2024/03/07/alien-meteor-truck/


Seismic Rumble From an 'Alien Technology' Meteor Was Actually a Passing Truck, Scientists Say The rumblings of
\the motor vehicle apparently resembled that of a fireball passing through Earth’s atmosphere.
By Isaac Schultz, Gizmodo, March 8, 2024
https://gizmodo.com/rumble-alien-technology-meteor-actually-truck-2014-1851319770

Yours,

Paul H.

Wednesday 6 March 2024

Physicists suggest a possible way to confirm or deny the existence of the Chinguetti meteorite ...

Physicists suggest a possible way to confirm or deny the existence of the Chinguetti meteorite
by Bob Yirka , Phys.org
https://phys.org/news/2024-03-physicists-deny-chinguetti-meteorite.html


The paper is:

Warren, R., Warren, S. and Protopapa, E., 2024. 
New evidence on the lost giant Chinguetti meteorite. arXiv preprint arXiv:2402.14150.
DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2402.14150
https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.14150


Yours,

Paul H.

Tuesday 27 February 2024

Strange Metal From Beyond Our World, Found in Ancient Treasure Stash, The Treasure of Villena, Iberia

Strange Metal From Beyond Our World, Found in Ancient Treasure Stash, The Treasure of Villena, Iberia
Michelle Starr, ScienceAlert, February 2024
https://www.sciencealert.com/strange-metal-from-beyond-our-world-found-in-ancient-treasure-stash


The paper is:

Rovira-Llorens, S., 2023 ¿Hierro meteorítico en el Tesoro de Villena?
(Meteoritic iron in the Villena Treasure?) Trabajos de Prehistoria 80 (2) julio-diciembre 2023, e19
https://tp.revistas.csic.es/index.php/tp/article/view/929/1110


Yours,

Paul H.

Sunday 11 February 2024

Footprints of birds, pterosaurs, dinosaurs below the K/Pg boundary, Las Encinas, Formation. Coahuila, Mexico

Footprints of birds, pterosaurs, dinosaurs below the K/Pg boundary, Las Encinas, Formation. Coahuila, Mexico



There is an interesting paper about the tracks of footprints of birds, pterosaurs, dinosaurs found below the K/Pg boundary in the Las Encinas Formation, State of Coahuila, Mexico.
 Although it is in Spanish, a more or less usable translation can be obtained using document option of Google Translate at-
https://translate.google.com/?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&op=docs

The open access paper is:
Serrano-Brañas, C., Espinosa-Chávez, B., Flores-Ventura, J., Barrera-Guevara, D., Torres-Rodríguez, E., Cadena-González, D., and Vega, F.J., 2024. Huellas de aves, pterosaurios, dinosaurios y el límite K/Pg en Coahuila, México (Footprints of birds, pterosaurs, dinosaurs and the K/Pg limit in Coahuila, Mexico). Revista-Maya-Geociencias, Febrero 2024. pp. 96-105.
https://revistamaya.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Revista-Maya-Geociencias-Febrero-2024.pdf

https://revistamaya.com/?page_id=73


PDFs of more issues of Revista Maya Geociencia at
https://revistamaya.com/?page_id=73


A related paper is:
Serrano-Brañas, C.I., Espinosa-Chávez, B., Ventura, J.F., Barrera-Guevara, D., Torres-Rodríguez, E. and Vega, F.J., 2022. New insights on the avian trace fossil record from NE Mexico: evidences on the diversity of latest Maastrichtian web-footed bird tracks. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 113, p.103686.

Yours,
Paul H.

Wednesday 7 February 2024

Strange yellow glass found in Libyan desert may have formed from lost meteor impact

LIBYAN DESERT GLASS- Strange yellow glass found in Libyan desert may have formed from lost meteor impact

Libyan desert yellow glass: how we discovered the origin of these rare and mysterious shards, Elizaveta Kovaleva Lecturer,
University of the Western Cape The Conversation, November 20, 2023
https://theconversation.com/libyan-deserts-yellow-glass-how-we-discovered-the-origin-of-these-rare-and-mysterious-shards-217565

Strange yellow glass found in Libyan desert may have formed from lost meteor impact By Elizaveta Kovaleva
Live Science, December 03, 2023
https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/geology/strange-yellow-glass-found-in-libyan-desert-may-have-formed-from-lost-meteor-impact

The paper is:
Kovaleva, E., Helmy, H., Belkacim, S., Schreiber, A., Wilke, F.D. and Wirth, R., 2023. 
Libyan Desert Glass: New evidence for an extremely high-pressure-temperature impact event from nanostructural study. 

Thursday 4 January 2024

Holocene impact craters on Earth

Holocene impact craters on Earth

An interesting recently published open access summary of Holocene Impact Craters.

Losiak, A., 2023. Holocene impact craters on Earth. Miscellanea Geographica. Vol. 27 • No. 4
https://intapi.sciendo.com/pdf/10.2478/mgrsd-2023-0016

https://sciendo.com/journal/MGRSD

Yours,

Paul H.

Wednesday 27 December 2023

OT - Happy New Year with Cats

OT - Happy New Year with Cats

Cats have nearly 300 facial expressions,
including a 'play face' they share with humans
By Jennifer Nalewicki, Live Science, October 30, 2023
https://www.livescience.com/animals/cats/cats-have-nearly-300-facial-expressions-including-a-play-face-they-share-with-humans

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Paul

Thursday 7 December 2023

Open access paper supporting Bolaven Plateau as location for source crater of Australasian strewn field

Open access paper supporting Bolaven Plateau as location for source crater of Australasian strewn field

Kerry Sieh, Dayana Schonwalder Angel, Jason Herrin, and Jia Yong Quah, 2023. Proximal ejecta of the Bolaven extraterrestrial impact, southern Laos, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 120 (50) e2310351120
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2310351120

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2310351120

Yours,

Paul H.

Tuesday 21 November 2023

Harvard astronomer’s “alien spherules” are industrial pollutants

Harvard astronomer’s “alien spherules” are industrial pollutants
Big Think, November 14, 2023
https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/harvard-astronomer-alien-spherules/

The open access paper is:
Gallardo, P.A., 2023. Anthropogenic Coal Ash as a Contaminant in a Micro-meteoritic Underwater Search. Research Notes of the AAS, 7(10),
p.220.
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2515-5172/ad03f9/meta

Yours,

Paul H.

Wednesday 25 October 2023

The Moon Is 40 Million Years Older Than Thought, Lunar Rock Samples Suggest

The Moon Is 40 Million Years Older Than Thought, Lunar Rock Samples Suggest
By Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, October 23, 2023
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-moon-is-40-million-years-older-than-thought-lunar-rock-samples-suggest-180983117/

Scientists believe moon is 40 million years older than first thought
By Simon Druker, UPI, October 23, 2023
https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2023/10/23/moon-40m-years-older-lunar-surface-cyrstals/4101698072068/

The Moon is 40 million years older than previously thought
ScienceDaily, Northwestern University, October 23, 2023
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/10/231023124332.htm

The open access paper is:

Greer, J., Zhang, B., Isheim, D., Seidman, D.N., Bouvier, A., and Heck, P.R., 2023. 4.46 Ga zircons anchor chronology of lunar
magma ocean Geochemical Perspectives Letters v27, Published 23 October 2023
https://doi.org/10.7185/geochemlet.2334

https://www.geochemicalperspectivesletters.org/article2334/

Yours,

Paul H.

Wednesday 11 October 2023

Suspected extraterrestrial impact crater reported from North Korea

Suspected extraterrestrial impact crater reported from North Korea

A suspected extraterrestrial impact crater, the Hapcheon impact
crater, is reported from North Korea by the below open access papers.

Lim, J., Hong, S.S., Han, M., Yi, S. and Kim, S.W., 2021.
First finding of impact cratering in the Korean Peninsula. Gondwana Research, 91, pp.121-128.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1342937X20303105

Lee, J.Y., Shin, S., Yoon, H.H., Kim, J.C., Choi, Y., Nahm, W.H. and Kim, H., 2023. 
The Sedimentary records of the Hapcheon impact crater basin in Korea over the past 1.3 Ma. Frontiers in Earth Science, 11, p.1102785.

Monday 25 September 2023

NASA asteroid sample lands safely in Utah before being whisked away by helicopter

NASA asteroid sample lands safely in Utah before being whisked away by helicopter
Nell Greenfieldboyce, All Things Considered, September 24, 2023
https://www.npr.org/2023/09/24/1201386042/watch-live-nasa-sends-an-asteroid-sample-back-to-earth

Nasa hails 'awesome' rescue mission as asteroid sample reaches military base, Rebecca Morelle and Jonathan Amos, BBC News, September 24, 2023
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/science-environment-66881285

Yours,

Paul H.




Friday 1 September 2023

The paper about the Hopewell airburst event has been retracted.

The paper about the Hopewell airburst event has been retracted.

The open access note about it is:

Tankersley, K.B., Meyers, S.D., Meyers, S.A. et al. Retraction Note:
The Hopewell airburst event, 1699–1567 years ago (252–383 CE).
Sci Rep 13, 14201 (2023). 

Wednesday 30 August 2023

This Ancient Meteorite from the Birth of Our Solar System

This Ancient Meteorite from the Birth of Our Solar System

This Ancient Meteorite Is A Time Capsule From The Birth of Our Solar System
by Michelle Starr, ScienceAlert, August 30, 2023
https://www.sciencealert.com/this-ancient-meteorite-is-a-time-capsule-from-the-birth-of-our-solar-system

The open access paper is:

Krestianinov, E., Amelin, Y., Yin, QZ. et al. Igneous meteorites suggest Aluminium-26 heterogeneity in the early Solar Nebula. Nat Commun 14, 4940 (2023).