New Younger Dryas Extraterrestrial Extinction Hypothesis

Brakenridge, G. R., 2011, Core-collapse Supernovae and The Younger 
Dryas/Terminal Rancholabrean Extinctions. Icarus (advance online 
publication) doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2011.06.043 
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019103511002612

Dr. G. R. Brakenridge's Vitea
http://floodobservatory.colorado.edu/BrakenridgeVitae.pdf

Yours,

Paul H.

Meteorite Rush: E.T. treasure hunters dig deep for 'alien gold'

Meteorite Rush: E.T. treasure hunters dig deep for 'alien gold' 
Russia Today, July 21, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V83AiA4eU3o
http://paranormaloldpueblo.com/2011/07/21/space-rocks-meteorite-hunting-fever-slams-into-russia/

Yours,

Paul H.

Australia’s Shoemaker Impact Structure

WORLD FROM SPACE Australia’s Shoemaker Impact Structure
by IWO, Irish Weather Online, July 19, 2011
http://www.irishweatheronline.com/features-2/world-from-space/world-from-space-australias-shoemaker-impact-structure/27381.html
http://www.irishweatheronline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ISS028-E-014782.jpg

Astronaut Photography of Earth - Display Record ISS028-E-14782
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=ISS028&roll=E&frame=14782
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/images/EFS/lowres/ISS028/ISS028-E-14782.JPG

Shoemaker Impact Crater, Erath Observatory, NASA
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=4648

Shoemaker (formerly Teague), Earth Impact Database
http://www.passc.net/EarthImpactDatabase/shoemaker.html

Yours,

Paul H.

Sedan Nuclear Explosion Ejecta Deposits and Shock Metamorphism

A report about the physical characteristics of the ejecta blanket
and crater rim deformation of the Sedan nuclear explosion crater
is available online. This reports describes one of a number of
nuclear explosion, which provided data that proved useful in the
interpretation of prehistoric extraterrestrial impact carters.

The report is:

Carlson, R. H., and W. A. Roberts, 1963, Mass Distribution and 
Throwout Studies Project Sedan. Report no. PNE-217F, U.S. 
Atomic Energy Commission, Plowshare Program and The 
Boeing Company Seattle, Washington.    

PDF file at http://dodreports.com/pdf/ada437925.pdf
http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/product.biblio.jsp?osti_id=4667168
http://www.scribd.com/doc/47290437/pne-217-Sedan

Related report and papers:

Vortman, L. J., 1967, Maximum missile ranges from surface and 
buried explosions. report no. SC-RR--67-616, Sandia Corp.,
Albuquerque, N. Mexico.

PDF file at http://dodreports.com/ada396331
http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA396331&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf

Henny, R. W., and R. H. Carlson, 1968, Distribution of natural missiles
from cratering explosions in hard rock. Annals of the New York 
Academy of Sciences. vol. 152, no 1, pp. 404–431.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1968.tb11990.x/abstract    

Wohletz, K. H., 1998, Chapter 7 Pyroclastic Surges and Compressible 
Two-Phase Flow, in A. Freundt and M. Rosi, eds., pp. 247-312, 
From Magma to Tephra. Elsevier, New York.
PDF file: http://www.ees1.lanl.gov/Wohletz/Pyroclastic%20Surges.pdf

In was in debris from the Sedan nuclear explosion crater that 
manmade shocked quartz was found as described in the below
papers and reports.

Online report about Sedan test shock metamorphism

Short, N. M., 1969, Progressive shock metamorphism of quartzite 
ejecta from SEDAN nuclear explosion crater. NASA-TM-X-63778,
Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland, 92 pp.

PDF file:
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19700005328&qs=Ns%3DPublication-Date|0%26N%3D4294798519
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19700005328_1970005328.pdf

Papers

Cordier, P., and A. J. Gratz, 1995, TEM study of shock metamorphism 
in quartz from the Sedan nuclear test site. Earth and Planetary 
Science Letters. vol. 129, no. 1-4, pp. 163-170.

Short, N.M., 1970. Progressive shock metamorphism of quartzite 
ejecta from the Sedan nuclear explosion crater. Journal of Geology, 
vol. 78, no. 6, pp. 705-732  http://www.jstor.org/pss/30067899

Sedan nuclear test web pages

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedan_(nuclear_test)
http://www.onlinenevada.org/sedan_crater
http://www.allaroundnevada.com/?p=29

Videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1o38Yo5OhY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssLZ4bUTDYM

Yours,

Paul H.

 Evidence for Late Eocene Impact Generated Deposition, Georgia

PDF files concerning evidence for the Chesapeake bay impact 
in Georgia are available online. They are:

Harris, R. S., 2003, Evidence for Impact-Generated Deposition
on the Late Eocene Shore of Georgia. unpublished M.S. thesis,
University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia. 116 pp. 
http://www.openthesis.org/documents/Evidence-impact-generated-deposition-late-7147.html
http://ugakr.libs.uga.edu/bitstream/handle/10724/6827/harris_robert_s_200308_ms.pdf?sequence=1
    
Harris, R. S., M. F. Roden, P. A. Schroeder, S. M. Holland, M. S. 
Duncan, and E. F. Albin, 2004, Geology. vol. 32, no. 8, p.p. 717-720
abstract - http://geology.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/32/8/717
PDF file - http://www.gly.uga.edu/Schroeder/Harris_etal_04.pdf

PDF files of the chapters of a USGS study of the Chesapeake Bay 
Impact Structure can be found in:

Horton, W., Jr., D. S. Powars, and G. S. Gohn, 2005, Studies of the 
Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure -- The USGS-NASA Langley 
Corehole, Hampton, Virginia, and Related Coreholes and Geophysical 
Surveys. Professional Paper no. 1688, United States Geological
Survey, Reston , Virginia.
PDF files at : http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/2005/1688/ak/

Yours,

Paul H.

A Cosmic Catastrophe: The Great Clovis Comet Debate

Holliday, V. T., 2011, A Cosmic Catastrophe: The Great Clovis 
Comet Debate: A personal perspective on an Outrageous Hypothesis.
Department of Anthropology at the University of Arizona.
http://www.argonaut.arizona.edu/Clovis_Comet_Debate.html

Yours,

Paul H.

A Differring View of Outflow Channels of Mars

A different viewpoint about how the outflow channels of
Mars was recently published. It is:

Leverington, W. D., 2011, A volcanic origin for the outflow 
channels of Mars: Key evidence and major implications.
Geomorphology. vol. 132, no. 3-4, pp. 51-75.
Abstract at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169555X11002820
PDF file at http://www.webpages.ttu.edu/dleverin/leverington_mars_outflow_channels_geomorphology_2011.pdf

Although I do not agree with this paper, it is interesting.

Yours,

Paul H.

Papers About Kansas Meteorites, Meteorite Craters and Topographic Depressions

Dear Friends,

A short paper about the topographic depressions found
on the High Plains of Kansas has been recently published.
This paper is:

Merriam, D. F., 2011, Topographic Depressions on the 
High Plains of Western Kansas. Transactions of the 
Kansas Academy of Science. vol. 114, no. 1 & 2, pp. 69-76.
doi: 10.1660/062.114.0106
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1660/062.114.0106?journalCode=tkas

It notes that these depressions are likely the result of a variety 
of geologic processes, including solution, infiltration, animal 
activity, eolian action, and possibly even meteorite impacts.
However, he notes that because of the subsequent modification 
of these depressions by surficial processes, it is impossible to 
determine the origin of specific features from their size and shape 
without detailed geological study.

In another paper, a new impact structure, the Edgerton impact 
structure in northwestern Miami County, is proposed for Kansas. 
The paper is:

Merriam, D. F., J. Xia, and J. w. Harbaugh, 2009, The Edgerton 
structure: a possible meteorite impact feature in eastern 
Kansas. International Journal of Geophysics. vol. 2009, 
article ID 621528, 6 pages. doi: 10.1155/2009/621528, 6 pp.
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijgp/2009/621528/

PDF file for Merriam et al. (2009) is at:
http://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/ijgp/2009/621528.pdf

An earlier paper about Kansas meteorites and craters is:

Merriam, D.F . and J. W. Harbaugh, 2007, Meteorites and 
meteorite-impact features in Kansas. Kansas Academy of 
Science, Transactions. vol. 110, no. 4, pp. 61–68.
http://www.jstor.org/pss/20476295

Finally, some related papers by Dr. Daniel F. Merriam are:

Harbaugh, J. W., and D. F. Merriam, 2008, Topographic ellipses 
in Finney and Sedgwick counties, Kansas may signal deep structures 
in Precambrian basement. Transactions of the Kansas Academy 
of Science. vol. 111, no. 3 & 4, pp. 269-274.
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1660/0022-8443-111.3.269

Merriam, D. F., 2005, Surface expression of buried geologic 
features in Kansas. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions.
vol. 108, no. 3 & 4, pp. 121-128.
doi: 10.1660/0022-8443(2005)108[0121:SEOBGF]2.0.CO;2
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1660/0022-8443%282005%29108%5B0121:SEOBGF%5D2.0.CO%3B2

Merriam, D. F., and C. J. Mann, 1957, Sinkholes and related 
geologic features in Kansas. Kansas. Transactions of the Kansas 
Academy of Science. vol. 60, no. 3, pp. 207-243.
http://www.jstor.org/pss/3626855

Yours,

Paul H.

 RE: 6 crater fields in central New Mexico

In “[meteorite-list] 6 crater fields in central New Mexico: 
Dennis Cox: Rich Murray 2011.07.09 at 
http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/meteorite-list/2011-July/078188.html 
Rich Murray wrote: 

“6 crater fields in central New Mexico: Dennis Cox: Rich Murray 2011.07.09 

http://craterhunter.wordpress.com/ 

A Catastrophe of Comets 
More New Mexico Craters 
Rich Murray: I slightly adjusted the view locations. 
They sure look like impact craters... “ 

No they do not look like meteorite craters. First, these featrues 
lack the morphology, which would suggest that they might be 
meteorite craters. The majority lack the circular or elliptical outline 
that might characterize an impact crater. The majority of them 
are far to irregular to be candidates for  impact craters. In addition,  
sinkholes can also have nice circular outlines as can be seen in 
the Bottomless Lakes of Bottomless Lakes State Park about 14 
miles southeast of Roswell, New Mexico. 

The Bottomless Lakes are discussed at: 

Bottomless Lakes State Park, New Mexico 
http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/PRD/bottomless.htm 

Kottlowski, F. E., 1979, Bottomless Lakes: New Mexico 
Geology, vol. 1, pp. 57-58. 

McLemore, V. T., 1999, Bottomless Lakes: New Mexico 
Geology, vol. 21, no. 2, p. 51-55. 
http://geoinfo.nmt.edu/tour/state/bottomless_lakes/home.html 

Rawling, G., and D. J. McCraw, 2010, Geologic map of 
the Bottomless Lakes quadrangle, Chaves County, 
New Mexico. Open-file geologic map. no. 126. scale 
1:24,000, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral 
Resources. Socorro, New Mexico. 
http://geoinfo.nmt.edu/publications/maps/geologic/ofgm/details.cfml?Volume=126 

Second, if a person looks at the regional topographic maps, 
these features lack any sign of the rim that an impact crater 
would typically have. Finally, geologists have looked 
at these features and found them to be classic examples 
of carbonate karst, which are developed in the alternating 
layers of limestone and dolomite of the San Andres 
Formation, which underlies this area. 

What one of these sinkholes looks like near the ground 
surface can be seen the web page for Fort Stanton Cave, 
Lincoln County, New Mexico, at 
http://www.fscsp.org/photos/entrance_aerial_view_1200.jpg 
http://www.fscsp.org/ 

The cave is located at lat. 33.50673°, long. -105.4936248° 
about 28 miles south of the above area of karst. 

I have talked about these features before in: 

[meteorite-list] Impact Crater in New Mexico – Part 2 
Lincoln County Revisited, January 6, 2009, 
http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/meteorite-list/2011-January/072231.html 

A couple of web pages: 

Karst 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karst 

Sinkhole 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinkhole 

There might be an impact crater or few lost among all of these 
sinkholes. However, distinguishing them from the sinkholes 
and demonstrating that they are impact craters will take a lot 
a field work. It is certainly something that will be impossible 
to do simply from aerial imagery. 

Rich Murray wrote: 
“Ground samples may reveal evidence of blast and surface 
melting and coating.” 

A person can look if they want. I suspect that it such a search 
will find a complete absence of any credible evidence “blast 
and surface melting and coating.” 

If a person wants to look for features to investigate as 
possible impact craters, they can check out a reported 
possible impact crater by Skotnicki (2009) within the 
Lincoln 7.5 quadrangle, Lincoln County, New Mexico. 

The reference is: 

Skotnicki , S. J., 2009, Preliminary Geologic Map 
of the Lincoln Quadrangle, Lincoln County, New 
Mexico. scale: 1:24,000. Open‐file Digital Geologic 
Map OF‐GM 188. New Mexico Bureau of Geology 
and Mineral Resources, Socorro, New Mexico. 
http://geoinfo.nmt.edu/publications/maps/geologic/ofgm/details.cfml?Volume=18 
8 
http://geoinfo.nmt.edu/publications/maps/geologic/ofgm/downloads/188/Lincoln_Rep
ort.pdf 
http://geoinfo.nmt.edu/publications/maps/geologic/ofgm/downloads/188/Lincoln_v1p
-00.pdf 

Rich Murray wrote: 
“69 views are in: 
https://www.dropbox.com/gallery/2268163/1/CraterField?h=c40610 

A Cox 
34.281890 -105.139342 1.755 km area el 
just S of County Road 3Ka, which comes from 
10M SW of 285 
and then W and N to 54, 60, 285 just W of Vaughn -- 
22 M S of Vaughn 
75 M NNW of Roswell 
many craters .01 to 0.1 km size” 

No craters. Just craterwrongs in the form of sinkholes. 

Rich Murray wrote: 
“B Cox 
34.254942 -105.117973 
10 M SW of 285 
many craters” 

No craters. Just more sinkholes. 

Rich Murray wrote: 
“C Cox 
34.203891 -105.058533 1.674 km area el 
9 M SW of 285 
.05 km wide 4 m deep” 

Even more sinkholes. 

Rich Murray wrote: 
“D Cox 
34.191197 -105.027841 1.644 km area el 
8 M SW of 285 
.07 km size 13 m deep” 
Just another sinkhole. 

Rich Murray wrote: 
“E Cox 
34.207906 -105.02134 1.606 km area el 
7 M SW of 285 
.04 km wide 3 m deep” 

Just another sinkhole. 

34.207906 -105.02134 
“F Cox 
34.210453 -105.03963 1.645 km area el 
8 M SW of 285 
.05 km wide 4 m deep” 

More sinkholes. :-) 

Best wishes, 

Paul H.

The Mysterious Crestone Crater: A real meteor crater or not? (Colorado)

The Mysterious Crestone Crater: A real meteor crater or not? by Keno
The Crestone Eagle, northern San Luis Valley of Colorado, July 7, 2011,
http://crestoneeagle.com/2011/06/30/the-mysterious-crestone-crater-a-real-meteor-crater-or-not/
http://www.fr.sott.net/articles/show/230879-US-Colorado-The-Mysterious-Crestone-Crater-A-real-meteor-crater-or-not-

and

Bostick, M., 2004, [meteorite-list] NPA 12-24-1941 Colorado Men 
Strike Meteor (Wrong?), Nininger. Wed Dec 29 09:30:48 EST 2004
http://meteorite-identification.com/mwnews/12241941.htm
http://www.mail-archive.com/meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com/msg28650.html

A couple of references:

Caldwell, Andrew C., 1998, An analysis and survey of possible 
meteorite impact craters in Colorado. Geological Society of America
Abstract with Programs. vol. 35, no. 5, p. 41.

Marvin, U. B., and T. C. Marvin, 1960, A re-examination of the 
crater near Crestone, Colorado. Meteoritics. vol. 3, no. 1, pp.1-10.
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1966Metic...3....1M

Yours,

Paul H.

10 deadly comets, asteroids and meteorites in the movies

10 deadly comets, asteroids and meteorites in the movies by Ryan Lambie
http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/940445/10_deadly_comets_asteroids_and_meteorites_in_the_movies.html

Below are Wikipedia articles to various movies. They all deserve "spolier 
alerts" as they typically provide a complete plot of the movie somewhere in 
their text.

Meteor (film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_(film)

Deep Impact (film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Impact_(film)

Armageddon (1998 film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armageddon_(1998_film)

The Day the Sky Exploded
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Sky_Exploded

Night of the Comet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Comet

The Monolith Monsters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monolith_Monsters

The Day of the Triffids (film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_of_the_Triffids_(film)

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Empire_Strikes_Back

Maximum Overdrive
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_Overdrive

Lifeforce (film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifeforce_(film)

Yours,

Paul H.

Ring Structures ( Possible Impact Craters ?????) in Shortanbay area of North Caspian

For some brief speculation, without any supporting data, about 
possible impact craters in the Caspian Sea area, go look at:

Ring Structures of North Caspian - Possible Hydrocarbon 
Reservoirs Internet Geology News Letter No. 145, April 15, 2002
http://reocities.com/ResearchTriangle/campus/5317/L145a.html

"Seismic surveys in the Shortanbay area in the south of the North 
Caspian depression have disclosed several ring structures, which 
are interpreted as buried craters of possible meteorite impact
origin."

Another "ring structure" is discussed in:

Ring Structure in Basement of South Tatar arch
Internet Geology News Letter No. 126, December 3, 2001
http://reocities.com/ResearchTriangle/campus/5317/L126a.html

Yours,

Paul H.

Impact Cratering and Flood Volcanism

An interesting paper about the relationship between impact 
cratering and flood volcanism is:

Sherlock, S. C., S. P. Kelley, L.  Glazovskaya, and I. U. Peate, 
2009, The significance of the contemporaneous Logoisk impact 
structure (Belarus) and Afro-Arabian flood volcanism.
Journal of the Geological Society. vol. 166, no. 1, pp. 5-8.
http://jgs.lyellcollection.org/content/166/1/5.abstract

They concluded:

"It is apparent that a 17 km diameter impact crater, peak
eruption in a large igneous province, and one of a series of
Oligocene sudden climate cooling events all occurred within
1 Ma and probably within less than 0.5 Ma."

Given the frequency of both events and length of periods 
of flood volcanism, they concluded "...that contemporaneity 
of impacts and flood volcanism was the norm..." during
Earth prehistory. They do not argue that there is any cause 
and effect relationship between large extraterrestrial 
impacts and flood volcanism. They are only concerned
with the environmental consequences of the occurrence 
of a large extraterrestrial  impact during a period of 
flood volcanism.

Yours,

Paul H.