[meteorite-list] Exploding asteroid theory strengthened by new evidence located in Ohio, Indiana

From: Mr EMan <mstreman53_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2008 17:42:44 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <803391.35829.qm_at_web55205.mail.re4.yahoo.com>

--- On Wed, 7/2/08, Darren Garrison <cynapse at charter.net> wrote:

> From: Darren Garrison <cynapse at charter.net>
> Subject: [meteorite-list] Exploding asteroid theory strengthened by new evidence located in Ohio, Indiana
> To: Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Date: Wednesday, July 2, 2008, 4:47 PM
> Okay, I'm not entirely clear just what this story is
> trying to say. But it
> seems to be claiming that gold silver, and diamonds are
> found in Ohio and
> Indiana that are debris blasted there by a late-ice age
> meteorite strike in
> Canada. Which makes no sense whatsoever, given that there
> is no recent
> massive-freaking crater in Canada that could account for
> the vast amounts of
> impactites this would imply.
>
>
> http://www.physorg.com/news134233301.html
>
> Geological evidence found in Ohio and Indiana in recent
> weeks is strengthening
> the case to attribute what happened 12,900 years ago in
> North America -- when
> the end of the last Ice Age unexpectedly turned into a
> phase of extinction for
> animals and humans -- to a cataclysmic comet or asteroid
> explosion over top of
> Canada.
>
> A comet/asteroid theory advanced by Arizona-based
> geophysicist Allen West in the
> past two years says that an object from space exploded just
> above the earth's
> surface at that time over modern-day Canada, sparking a
> massive shock wave and
> heat-generating event that set large parts of the northern
> hemisphere ablaze,
> setting the stage for the extinctions.
>
> Now University of Cincinnati Assistant Professor of
> Anthropology Ken Tankersley,
> working in conjunction with West and Indiana Geological
> Society Research
> Scientist Nelson R. Schaffer, has verified evidence from
> sites in Ohio and
> Indiana -- including, locally, Hamilton and Clermont
> counties in Ohio and Brown
> County in Indiana -- that offers the strongest support yet
> for the exploding
> comet/asteroid theory.
>
> Samples of diamonds, gold and silver that have been found
> in the region have
> been conclusively sourced through X-ray diffractometry in
> the lab of UC
> Professor of Geology Warren Huff back to the diamond fields
> region of Canada.
>
> The only plausible scenario available now for explaining
> their presence this far
> south is the kind of cataclysmic explosive event described
> by West's theory. "We
> believe this is the strongest evidence yet indicating a
> comet impact in that
> time period," says Tankersley.
>
> Ironically, Tankersley had gone into the field with West
> believing he might be
> able to disprove West's theory.
>
> Tankersley was familiar through years of work in this area
> with the diamonds,
> gold and silver deposits, which at one point could be found
> in such abundance in
> this region that the Hopewell Indians who lived here about
> 2,000 years ago
> engaged in trade in these items.
>
> Prevailing thought said that these deposits, which are
> found at a soil depth
> consistent with the time frame of the comet/asteroid event,
> had been brought
> south from the Great Lakes region by glaciers.
>
> "My smoking gun to disprove (West) was going to be the
> gold, silver and
> diamonds," Tankersley says. "But what I
> didn't know at that point was a
> conclusion he had reached that he had not yet made public
> -- that the likely
> point of impact for the comet wasn't just anywhere over
> Canada, but located over
> Canada's diamond-bearing fields. Instead of becoming
> the basis for rejecting his
> hypothesis, these items became the very best evidence to
> support it."
>
> Additional sourcing work is being done at the sites looking
> for iridium,
> micro-meteorites and nano-diamonds that bear the markers of
> the diamond-field
> region, which also should have been blasted by the impact
> into this region.
>
> Much of the work is being done in Sheriden Cave in
> north-central Ohio's Wyandot
> County, a rich repository of material dating back to the
> Ice Age.
>
> Tankersley first came into contact with West and Schaffer
> when they were invited
> guests for interdisciplinary colloquia presented by
> UC's Department of Geology
> this spring.
>
> West presented on his theory that a large comet or
> asteroid, believed to be more
> than a mile in diameter, exploded just above the earth at a
> time when the last
> Ice Age appeared to be drawing to a close.
>
> The timing attached to this theory of about 12,900 years
> ago is consistent with
> the known disappearances in North America of the wooly
> mammoth population and
> the first distinct human society to inhabit the continent,
> known as the Clovis
> civilization. At that time, climatic history suggests the
> Ice Age should have
> been drawing to a close, but a rapid change known as the
> Younger Dryas event,
> instead ushered in another 1,300 years of glacial
> conditions. A cataclysmic
> explosion consistent with West's theory would have the
> potential to create the
> kind of atmospheric turmoil necessary to produce such
> conditions.
>
> "The kind of evidence we are finding does suggest that
> climate change at the end
> of the last Ice Age was the result of a catastrophic
> event," Tankersley says.
>
> Currently, Tankersley can be seen in a new documentary
> airing on the National
> Geographic channel. The film "Ancient Asteroids"
> is part of that network's
> "Naked Science" series.
>
> The new discoveries made working with West and Schaffer
> will be incorporated
> into two more specials that Tankersley is currently
> involved with -- one for the
> PBS series "Nova" and a second for the History
> Channel that will be filming
> Tankersley and his UC students in the field this summer.
> Another documentary,
> this one being produced by the Discovery Channel and the
> British public
> television network Channel 4, will also be following
> Tankersley and his students
> later this summer.
>
> As more data continues to be compiled, Tankersley, West and
> Schaffer will be
> publishing about this newest twist in the search to explain
> the history of our
> planet and its climate.
>
> Climate change is a favorite topic for Tankersley.
> "The ultimate importance of
> this kind of work is showing that we can't control
> everything," he says. "Our
> planet has been hit by asteroids many times throughout its
> history, and when
> that happens, it does produce climate change."
>
> Source: University of Cincinnati
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Received on Wed 02 Jul 2008 08:42:44 PM PDT