100, 000 to 200, 000 BP Western Desert of Egypt Impact

Paul bristolia at yahoo.com
Mon Dec 18 09:58:49 EST 2006

Dear Friends,

A paper about a proposed Pleistocene impact in the
western Desert of Egypt is in press in the Earth and
Planetary Science Letters.

It is:

Osinski, G. R., H. P. Schwarcz, J. R. Smith, M. R.
Kleindienst, A. F.C. Haldemann and C. S. Churcher.
in Press, Evidence for a 200-100 ka meteorite impact
in the Western Desert of Egypt. Earth and Planetary
Science Letters. available online December 2006

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0012821X

This paper argues that unusual silicate glasses found
near the Dakhleh Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt is the
result of either a "cratering event or a large aerial burst",
which occurred about 100,000 to 200,000 year ago
according to Ar/Ar dating and geoarcaheological
evidence.

Some web pages:

1. Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt
http://epsc.wustl.edu/~kieniewicz/dakhleh_oasis.htm

2. Excavations at Mut el-Kharab, Dakhleh Oasis
http://arts.monash.edu.au/archaeology/excavations/dakhleh/index.html
http://arts.monash.edu.au/archaeology/excavations/dakhleh/mut-el-kharab/index.html

3. Haldemann, A. F. C., M. R. Kleindienst, C. S.
Churcher, J. R. Smith, H. Schwarcz, K. Markham, and
G. Osinski, 2005, Mapping Impact Modified Sediments:
Subtle Remote-Sensing Signatures of the Dakhleh
Oasis Catastrophic Event, Western Desert, Egypt.
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #37, #17.03;
Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 37, p.648

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2005DPS....37.1703H

Yours,

Paul H.