Any comments on AGU Carolina Bays and YD Impact Papers ???

Paul bristolia at yahoo.com
Wed May 30 00:10:16 EDT 2007

Did anyone on this list attend the 2007 AGU talks given
on the extraterrestrial impact origin Carolina Bays and
the Younger Dryas (YD) event?

They include:

Kobres, R. et al. (2007) Formation of the Carolina
Bays: ET Impact vs. Wind-and-Water Eos Trans. AGU,
88(23), Jt. Assem. Suppl., Abstract PP43A-10

http://www.agu.org/cgi-bin/SFgate/SFgate?language=English&verbose=0&listenv=table&application=sm07&convert=&converthl=&refinequery=&formintern=&formextern=&transquery=carolina%20bays&_lines=&multiple=0&descriptor=%2fdata%2fepubs%2fwais%2findexes%2fsm07%2fsm07%7c788%7c4554%7cFormation%20of%20the%20Carolina%20Bays:%20ET%20Impact%20vs.%20Wind-and-Water%7cHTML%7clocalhost:0%7c%2fdata%2fepubs%2fwais%2findexes%2fsm07%2fsm07%7c5539757%205544311%20%2fdata2%2fepubs%2fwais%2fdata%2fsm07%2fsm07.txt

and

Howard, G. A. et al (2007) Evidence for an
Extraterrestrial Impact Origin of the Carolina Bays
on the Atlantic Coast of North America Eos Trans.
GU, 88(23), Jt. Assem. Suppl., Abstract PP42A-05 [8]

http://www.agu.org/cgi-bin/SFgate/SFgate?language=English&verbose=0&listenv=table&application=sm07&convert=&converthl=&refinequery=&formintern=&formextern=&transquery=carolina%20and%20bays&_lines=&multiple=0&descriptor=%2fdata%2fepubs%2fwais%2findexes%2fsm07%2fsm07%7c448%7c4520%7cEvidence%20for%20an%20Extraterrestrial%20Impact%20Origin%20of%20the%20Carolina%20Bays%20on%20the%20Atlantic%20Coast%20of%20North%20America%7cHTML%7clocalhost:0%7c%2fdata%2fepubs%2fwais%2findexes%2fsm07%2fsm07%7c5496677%205501197%20%2fdata2%2fepubs%2fwais%2fdata%2fsm07%2fsm07.txt

In part, the latter abstract read:

"We report results from a suite of cores taken from
within a Bay, which we have named "Howard Bay," located
about 2 km north of the town of Duart in Bladen County,
North Carolina. Located on the high western bluff of
the Cape Fear River, the Bay is 2.7 km long, 1.6 km
wide, and filled with about 9 meters of sediment with
an encircling rim that is ~1-meter high. Analyses of
seven cores along the long axis of Howard Bay reveal
an assemblage of abundant magnetic grains, microspherules,
carbon spherules, glass-like carbon, and iridium,
typical of the YDB impact layer (12.9 ka) at many other
sites across North America. The impact layer conforms
to the basal contours of the basin, suggesting that the
markers were deposited immediately or soon after the
Bay formed. Further analyses of samples in complete
core sequences reveal that, unlike typical, peat-rich
Carolina Bays, Howard Bay essentially lacks peat,
diatoms, pollen, or other organic materials, suggesting
that this Bay never stored water for any sustained
length of time. Furthermore, several trenches confirm
that the deepest part of the Bay is filled with >6 m of
cross-bedded eolian sand with no evidence of lacustrine
sedimentation."

Does anyone know anything about the specific nature of
the "...abundant magnetic grains, microspherules, carbon
spherules, glass-like carbon, and iridium...", which is
reported above? Where has "glass-like carbon" been
recognized as evidence of an impact?

Any observations or comments about these and related
Younger Dryas talks given at the AGU would be appreciated.
I am curious if they either really found something or this
evidence is more of same unsubstantiated claims, i.e. the
playa lakes in the Texas panhandle are impact craters
and the Chippewa Basin of Lake Michigan is an impact
crater, which appeared in Firestone's book.

Best Regards,

Paul

Anyone Going to the NA Comet Impact Session in the May 2007 AGU Meeting?

Paul bristolia at yahoo.com
Mon May 21 17:17:05 EDT 2007

In “Ice Age Blast 'Ravaged America' 13,000
Years Ago”, Ron Baalke baalke posted:

“ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6676461.stm

Ice Age blast 'ravaged America' BBC News,
May 21, 2007”

...rest of text deleted...

and a another person posted in “Diamonds tell
tale of comet ....”

“ http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,2083785,00.html

Diamonds tell tale of comet that killed off
the cavemen Fireballs set half the planet
ablaze, wiping out the mammoth and America's
Stone Age hunters”

Is anyone, who can give a report about what
is stated in these talks, going to the AGU
meeting on May 27, 2007?

It would be nice is someone can do this and
prepare a report on their arguments and
various people's reaction to them.

There is a short article about these papers
in Nature. It is:

Dalton, R., 2007, Archaeology Blast in the
past? Nature. vol. 447, no. 7142, pp. 256-257.
doi:10.1038/447256a

Yours,

Paul H.

Impact Origin of Carolina Bays Argued For at 2007AGU Meeting

Paul bristolia at yahoo.com
Sun Mar 11 11:04:01 EDT 2007

Sterling K. Webb wrote on Sun March 11, 2007

>Hi, List,

>

>Thanks, Paul, for those links.

You and the list might be interested to know that
there is a competing session Carolina Bays. A more
mainstream point of view on their formation will be
given at the Geological Society of America Southeastern
Section-56th Annual Meeting (29-30 March 2007) in a
session titled "S6. Geology and Ecology of Carolina
Bays" at:

http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2007SE/finalprogram/session_18800.htm

The paper in this session include 1. "The Sedimentology
and Ages of Carolina Bays Sand Rims" by Dr. Ivestor at:

http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2007SE/finalprogram/abstract_119179.htm

This abstract states in part:

"Water-lain pebbles intercalated with eolian sands indicate
that these are typical shoreline deposits resulting from
fluctuations in water level."

"At individual bays where concentric rims occur, dating has
established that rims are progressively younger toward the center
of the bay, reflecting a regressive sequence and confirming that
the bays are not single-event features but evolve as a result of
processes active episodically over a long period of time. Active
shorelines and associated eolian deposition occurred during
marine isotope stage (MIS) 2 to late MIS 3 (~12 to 50 ka), MIS 4
to very late MIS 5 (60-80 ka), and late MIS 6 (120 to 140 ka)
based on a cumulative total of 45 OSL dates. These age ranges
also correspond with the ages of other eolian landforms in the
Coastal Plain, including sand sheets and dunefields, and suggest
a climatic threshold was crossed during the transition toward
glacial stadials, initiating both bay and dune activity."

Another abstract is "Geomorphic History of the Carolina Bays"
by Ray Kaczorowski at:

http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2007SE/finalprogram/abstract_118906.htm

Needless to say, this activity will be quite fun to watch as
all of these ideas are sorted out.

Best Regards,

Paul H.

Impact Origin of Carolina Bays Argued For at 2007 AGU Meeting

Paul bristolia at yahoo.com
Sat Mar 10 15:00:15 EST 2007

Dear Friends,

Apparently, there is going to be some interesting papers
at the 2007 Joint Assembly of the American Geophysical
Union as there will be a session presenting evidence for
an impact having occurred during Younger-Dyras times
at the "end of the last Ice Age. Below are links to
representative abstracts:

1. Evidence for an Extraterrestrial Impact Event 12,900 years
ago that Contributed to Megafaunal Extinctions and the Younger
Dryas Cooling

http://submissions5.agu.org/aguconvener/ConvenerView.asp?ref=1388

2. Formation of the Carolina Bays: ET Impact vs. Wind-and-Water
http://submissions5.agu.org/aguconvener/ConvenerView.asp?ref=1334

3. Extraterrestrial Markers Found at Clovis Sites Across North
America

http://submissions5.agu.org/aguconvener/ConvenerView.asp?ref=1393

4. Is There Evidence for Impact-Triggered Fires at the End
Pleistocene?

http://submissions5.agu.org/aguconvener/ConvenerView.asp?ref=513

The session itself is " PP05: New Insights into Younger Dryas
Climatic Instability, Mass Extinction, the Clovis People, and
Extraterrestrial Impacts

http://www.agu.org/meetings/ja07/?content=search&show=detail&sessid=159

It looks like Firestone and his supporters are refining their
arguments and dropping the implausible ones, i.e. the so-called
meteor crater in Lake Michigan, and concentrating on what they
regard the basic evidence for their ideas.

Best Regards,

Paul H.