New clues about Earth’s most elusive impact crater
Cavosie, A.J., N.E. Timms, T.M. Erickson, and C. Koeberl, 2017,
New clues from Earth’s most elusive impact crater: Evidence
of reidite in Australasian tektites from Thailand. Geology
Published: December 20, 2017 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1130/G39711.1
https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-abstract/525531/new-clues-from-earth-s-most-elusive-impact-crater?
" Here we report new evidence of a rare high-pressure
phase in Australasian tektites that further constrains
the location of the source crater. The former presence
of reidite, a high-pressure polymorph of zircon, was
detected in granular zircon grains within Muong
Nong–type tektites from Thailand."
"The data presented here place further constraints on the
distribution of high-pressure phases in Australasian tektites,
including coesite and now reidite, to an area centered over
Southeast Asia, which appears to be the most likely location
of the source crater."
Yours,
Paul H.
Wednesday, 27 December 2017
Monday, 25 December 2017
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone from Louisiana.
Yours,
Paul H.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone from Louisiana.
Yours,
Paul H.
Monday, 18 December 2017
Did Meteorites Help Start Life ?
Did Meteorites Help Start Life ?
Evidence suggests life on Earth started after meteorites splashed into warm little ponds, PhysOrg, October 2, 2017
https://phys.org/news/2017-10-evidence-life-earth-meteorites-splashed.html
How did Life Start? Meteorites crashing into Darwin's Little Warm Ponds May Have been Trigger, by Megham Bartels, Newsweek.
http://www.newsweek.com/2017/10/27/how-did-life-start-meteorites-crashing-darwins-warm-little-ponds-was-possible-675655.html
The paper is:
Pearce, B.K., Pudritz, R.E., Semenov, D.A. and Henning, T.K., 2017. Origin of the RNA world: The fate of nucleobases in warm little ponds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 114 no. 43, pp. 11327-11332
http://www.pnas.org/content/114/43/11327 https://arxiv.org/pdf/1710.00434.pdf
Yours,
Paul H.
Evidence suggests life on Earth started after meteorites splashed into warm little ponds, PhysOrg, October 2, 2017
https://phys.org/news/2017-10-evidence-life-earth-meteorites-splashed.html
How did Life Start? Meteorites crashing into Darwin's Little Warm Ponds May Have been Trigger, by Megham Bartels, Newsweek.
http://www.newsweek.com/2017/10/27/how-did-life-start-meteorites-crashing-darwins-warm-little-ponds-was-possible-675655.html
The paper is:
Pearce, B.K., Pudritz, R.E., Semenov, D.A. and Henning, T.K., 2017. Origin of the RNA world: The fate of nucleobases in warm little ponds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 114 no. 43, pp. 11327-11332
http://www.pnas.org/content/114/43/11327 https://arxiv.org/pdf/1710.00434.pdf
Yours,
Paul H.
Sunday, 17 December 2017
Handbook of Iron Meteorites (Electronic edition) By Vagn F. Buchwald, 1975 17DEC2017
Handbook of Iron Meteorites (Electronic edition) By Vagn F. Buchwald, 1975
Handbook of Iron Meteorites: Their History,
Distribution, Composition and Structure
(Electronic edition) By Vagn F. Buchwald
Yours,
Paul H.
Monday, 11 December 2017
Whale-sized Asteroid Skimmed Past Earth Unnoticed 11DEC2017
Whale-sized Asteroid Skimmed Past Earth Unnoticed
Asteroid 2017 VL2 flew past Earth at 0.31 LD,
a day before discovery, The Watchers, November 14, 2017
https://watchers.news/2017/11/14/asteroid-2017-vl2/
Whale-sized asteroid skimmed past Earth unnoticed
New Zealand Herald, Dec. 9, 2017
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11956637
Yours,
Paul H.
Sunday, 10 December 2017
Photographs of Hibbens at Fairbank Mucks 10DEC2017
Photographs of Hibbens at Fairbank Mucks
Reply to- E.P. Grondine post on Fri, 08 Dec 2017
>Hi Paul -
>
>
----------------------------------------------------------
Paul H. reply to Grondine- "The full article is:
Hagstrum, J.T., Firestone, R.B., West, A., Weaver, J.C. and
Bunch, T.E., 2017. Impact-related microspherules in Late
Pleistocene Alaskan and Yukon “muck” deposits signify
recurrent episodes of catastrophic emplacement. Scientific
Reports, 7, no. 16620.
It is wonderful to see that this topic is being argued in the
scientific literature instead of in popular books full of factual
errors about the Spokane Floods, loess, and megafloods
along with fictional claims about Atlantis.
>With the recovery of these photographs, Hibbens' wife's
>diary, and Geist's fossils, will you now consider retracting
>all of your comments on Hibbens' and his research?
No. the pictures and diary are still, by modern standards,
horribly poor and inadequate documentation of his ideas,
which was part of the times. Except for the spherules,
Hagstrum et al. (2017) make a number of assertions that
not backed up by any detailed taphonomic analysis of the
animal and plant remains and sedimentologic analysis of
the muck.
I hope this paper encourages someone to do so and test
their (Hibben's) hypothesis in due time and publish the
results in print. Unfortunately, I am working on other
stuff and will not have the time in the near future to be
that person.
There is an interesting blog about this paper at:
Comet Research Group Publishes New Article Reviving
Catastrophist Claims about Frozen Mammoths in Alaskan Muck
Yours,
Paul H.
Friday, 8 December 2017
Ancient Maya May Have Foreseen Meteor Showers 08DEC2017
Ancient Maya May Have Foreseen Meteor Showers
Ancient Maya May Have Foreseen Meteor Showers
By Kimberly M. S. Cartier. Eos, 98(12): pp. 11 – 12
Other articles in the same issue are:
Volcano Woes May Have Contributed to Ancient
Egypt’s Fall By JoAnna Wendel. Eos, 98(12): pp. 3 – 4
Playing with Water: Humans Are Altering Risk of
Nuisance Floods By Kimberly M. S. Cartier. Eos,
98(12): pp. 7 – 8
A Grand Tour of the Ocean Basins: A new teaching
resource facilitates plate tectonics studies using
a virtual guided tour of ocean basins around
the world. By Declan G. De Paor, Eos, 98(12): pp. 22 – 26.
Yours,
Paul H.
Thursday, 30 November 2017
The Story of the Fossil Meteorites 30NOV2017
The Story of the Fossil Meteorites
The story of the fossil meteorites
What four small pieces of rock can teach
us about the history of the solar system.
By David Boehnlein, Astronomy, November 29, 2017
Yours,
Paul H.
Saturday, 18 November 2017
What Happens If China Makes First Contact? 18NOV2017
What Happens If China Makes First Contact?
What Happens If China Makes First Contact?
As America has turned away from searching for
extraterrestrial intelligence, China has built the
world’s largest radio dish for precisely that purpose.
The Atlantic, Ross Andersen, December 2017
With Massive Radio Telescope, China Takes World's Lead
In Search For Alien Life, here and Now, November 16, 2017
http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2017/11/16/china-radio-telescope
The Alien Observatory --China's Preeminent Philosopher of
'First Contact' Visits New FAST Radio Telescope: "Warns of
Extinction By a Hidden Hunter" The Daily Galaxy,
November 08, 2017
Yours,
Paul H.
Wednesday, 1 November 2017
Did Ice Age Cause Mastodon Extinction? 01NOV2017
Did Ice Age Cause Mastodon Extinction?
Did Ice Age Cause Mastodon Extinction?
New Research Suggest Several Causes
Central Washington University, Oct. 29, 2017
Emery-Wetherell, Meaghan M., Brianna K. McHorse, and
Edward Byrd Davis. "Spatially explicit analysis sheds new
light on the Pleistocene megafaunal extinction in North
America." Paleobiology (2017): 1-14.
Another paper is:
Brault, M.O., Mysak, L.A., Matthews, H.D. and Simmons,
C.T., 2013. Assessing the impact of late Pleistocene
megafaunal extinctions on global vegetation and
climate. Climate of the Past, 9(4), p.1761.
Yours,
Paul H.
Chicxulub Impact Cooled Earth's Climate More than Previously Thought 01NOV2017
Chicxulub Impact Cooled Earth's Climate More than Previously Thought
Asteroid impact plunged dinosaurs into catastrophic 'winter'
By Jonathan Amos, BBC, October 31, 2017
Dinosaur-killing asteroid impact cooled Earth's climate more
than previously thought. PhysOrg, October 31, 2017
The paper is:
Natalia Artemieva et al, 2017, Quantifying the Release of
Climate-Active Gases by Large Meteorite Impacts With a Case
Study of Chicxulub. Geophysical Research Letters (2017). DOI:
10.1002/2017GL074879
A related paper is:
Pierazzo, E. and Artemieva, N., 2012. Local and global
environmental effects of impacts on Earth. Elements, 8(1), pp.55-60.
Yours,
Paul H.
Tuesday, 31 October 2017
New Late-Quaternary Records from Two Carolina Bays in North Carolina 31OCT2017
New Late-Quaternary Records from Two Carolina Bays in North Carolina
There is an interesting new paper in Quaternary Science Reviews. It is:
Spencer, J., Jones, K.B., Gamble, D.W., Benedetti, M.M., Taylor, A.K.
and Lane, C.S., 2017. Late-Quaternary records of vegetation and fire in
southeastern North Carolina from Jones Lake and Singletary Lake.
Quaternary Science Reviews, 174, pp. 33-53.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379117303141
In part the abstract reads;
"We conducted fossil pollen, charcoal, and geochemical analyses of
sediment cores from Jones Lake and Singletary Lake spanning the
last ∼50,000 cal yr BP to examine the linkages between climate,
vegetation, and fire activity on the Atlantic Coastal Plain, and
particularly emphasize changes since the Last Glacial Maximum."
There are two interesting aspects of these cores.
1. Nothing special occurs at the beginning of the Younger Dryas
in terms of either changes in lithology, vegetation, or charcoal
influx.
2. The sedimentary and palynological records in both bays extend
past the beginning of the Younger Dryas at least to circa 50,000
years ago.
Thus, contrary to the model of Antonio Zamora, both of these
Carolina Bays are significantly older then beginning of the
Younger Dryas. This raises some obvious problems with his
ideas. In addition, there is complete lack of any abrupt changes
in sedimentation or flora at the beginning of the Younger Dryas
that a person would expect to accompany a truly catastrophic
extraterrestrial event capable of causing a mass extinction.
Just some thoughts.
Yours,
Paul H.
Tuesday, 24 October 2017
Sources of Tsunamis From Krakatoa to Monterey Bay, Including Extraterrestrial Impacts 24OCT2017
Sources of Tsunamis From Krakatoa to Monterey Bay, Including Extraterrestrial Impacts
Below is a very interesting talk about tsunamis
and how they are created. One quite interesting
point that came up during the lecture and questions
is that asteroid and meteorite impacts are quite
ineffective at creating tsunamis and the tsunamis
threat from them has been greatly overestimated.
Also, as shown in popular films, they are quite
overexaggerated.
Unusual Sources of Tsunamis From Krakatoa to Monterey Bay
USGS 2017 January Evening Public Lecture, Eric Geist
by Eric Geist, USGS Research Geophysicist
Other very interesting USGS talks include:
The Giant Cascadia Earthquake of January 26, 1700
July Evening Public Lecture 2015
Justin Rubinstein, USGS Research Geophysicist
Underwater Secrets of the Hayward Fault
Zone: Integrated 3D imaging to understand
earthquake hazards
USGS 2017 May Evening Public Lecture
The Cascadia talk discusses how subfossil trees
were used to date the age of the last Cascadia
Earthquake and tsunami.
Yours,
Paul H.
Thursday, 19 October 2017
Midnight On The (Cosmic) Firing Line 19OCT2017
Midnight On The (Cosmic) Firing Line
Below are a selection of news articles, of varying
sensationalism, to remind everyone what crowded
and potentially dangerous solar neighborhood
that both Earth and us occupy.
NASA Asteroid Hunter Explains the Risks that
Near Earth Objects Pose to Planet, Hanna Osborne,
Newsweek,
Space rock found to be travelling With Earth
Scientists have discovered that Earth is being
tailed by an Asteroid, Sean Martin, Express.
Asteroid 2012 TC4: Space rock could come
back and Smash into Earth in the near future
The asteroid which had a near miss with Earth
could come back and smash into the planet in
the future, researchers have warned,
Sean Martin, Express, Oct 13, 2017
How We Discovered, Lost, and Rediscovered
the First Asteroid. It was a lot of math and
staring through telescopes. Popular Mechanics
Samples Brought Back From Asteroid Itokawa
Reveal 'Rubble Pile' Had a Violent Past, Curtin
University Posted October 18, 2017
Near-Earth Objects News
What I am worried about is not the asteroids
that we know about. What worries me are the
asteroids that we do not know about and appear
abruptly out of the darkness like a drunk driver
on a New Orleans street.
Go read “Asteroid 2017 TF5 flew past Earth at
0.73 LD, 4 days before discovery, October 16, 2017
Unlike the dinosaurs, we have, if we want it, the
technology to possibly defend ourselves from
wayward asteroids.
Yours,
Paul H.
Tuesday, 17 October 2017
Meteorites and Martian Volcanology 17OCT2017
Meteorites and Martian Volcanology
Analysis of Martian meteorites has uncovered 90 million
years' worth of new information about one of the red plan
PhysOrg, October 4, 2017
The paper is:
Cohen, B.E., Mark, D.F., Cassata, W.S., Lee, M.R., Tomkinson,
T. and Smith, C.L., 2017. Taking the pulse of Mars via dating
of a plume-fed volcano. Nature communications, 8.
Cohen, B., 2017. Taking the Pulse of Mars via 40Ar/39Ar Dating
of a Plume-Fed Volcano. Goldschmidt 2017, Paris, France, 13-18 Aug 2017.
Yours,
Paul H.
Sunday, 15 October 2017
Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis and Missoula (Spokane) Megafloods 15OCT2017
Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis and Missoula (Spokane) Megafloods
There is a new paper containing research about the
Missoula (Spokane) megafloods that contain bad news
for those few proponents of the Younger Dryas impact
hypothesis, who argue that these megafloods were
a single megaflood and caused by a hypothetical Younger
Dryas Impact.
It is:
Balbas, A.M., Barth, A.M., Clark, P.U., Clark, J., Caffee,
M., O’Connor, J., Baker, V.R., Konrad, K. and Bjornstad,
B., 2017. 10Be dating of late Pleistocene megafloods
and Cordilleran Ice Sheet retreat in the northwestern
United States. Geology, 45(7), pp.583-586
This paper contains cosmogenic 10Be ages that directly
date flood and glacial features important to understanding
the flood history, the evolution of the Channeled Scabland,
and relationships to the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. Popular
authors of lay books for the general public, lecturers, and
podcasters, e.g. Graham Hancock and Randall Carlson cannot
dismiss these dates as they did any radiocarbon dates that
contradicted their beliefs as being older wood / bone
reworked from older sediments.
The last of the larger megafloods occurred at 18.2 ± 1.5 ka. It
flowed down the northwestern Columbia River valley prior to
blockage of this route by advance of the Okanogan ice lobe
of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. The largest of multiple megafloods
predates the alleged Younger Dryas impact event by thousands
of years.
These dates show that the last of the megafloods from
glacial Lake Missoula occurred at about 14.7 ± 1.2 ka. The
youngest of the dated megaflood(s) (14.0 ± 1.4 ka to
14.4 ± 1.3 ka) likely came from glacial Lake Columbia,
indicating that the lake persisted for a few centuries after
the last Missoula megaflood. The last of the megafloods
predate the alleged Younger Dryas impact event by
thousands of years and came from two different sources.
The multiple megafloods that all are older than the
start of the Younger Dryas and, as a result, cannot be
associated with a hypothetical Younger Dryas event
as a few self-taught avocational investigators argue.
That there were multiple the Missoula (Spokane) megafloods
that predated a hypothetical Younger Dryas Impact is a
long standing idea based on solid evidence is shown by an
older and related Friends of the Pleistocene field trip
guidebook. It is:
Waitt, R.B., 1983. Tens of successive, colossal Missoula
floods at north and east margins of channeled scablands.
Friends of the Pleistocene, Rocky Mountain Cell, Guidebook
for 1983 Field Conference Day 2: 27 August 1983
U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 83-671
More recent research will be presented at the October
22nd Geological Society of America (GSA) Annual Meeting
in Seattle. Go see:
Session No. 22. T174. Cordilleran Ice Sheet Outburst
Floods: From Glacial Lake Missoula to the Hubbard Glacier.
Sunday, 22 October 2017: 8:00 AM-12:00 PM.
GSA Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington, USA - 2017
Yours,
Paul H.
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