Younger Dryas Impact hypothesis

[bbr2315]

I am not sure where this goes but this guy's channel has excellent videos on the Younger Dryas Impact hypothesis. One of his latest provides significant evidence that the impactor was an asteroid 17KM wide, or a comet 8.3KM wide.



The energy unleashed across North America as a result was stupendous, and a huge chunk of the continent was covered in bays from the ice boulders that were unleashed by the impact into the Laurentide Sheet.

[kassy]

This was originally posted in the AMOC thread but i decided to make it a new thread since it is a different and interesting subject.

[oren]

This was discussed previously in the Archeology thread and in the Astronomical news thread. I don't think it needs a thread on its own, especially considering we are not discussing a scientific paper but a video source. IMHO it can be merged in one of those threads.

[kassy]

I beg to differ because this event takes places at a very significant time. It is also an ongoing debate but the circumstantial evidence is mounting. Aside from the thread you mention there is also related stuff in What is new in the Arctic and a Greenland thread but i will check add some at a later date.

I agree a video source is not the greatest lead in but it did not really fit into AMOC.
So the idea is to collect relevant science on this here.

[bbr2315]

I beg to differ because this event takes places at a very significant time. It is also an ongoing debate but the circumstantial evidence is mounting. Aside from the thread you mention there is also related stuff in What is new in the Arctic and a Greenland thread but i will check add some at a later date.

I agree a video source is not the greatest lead in but it did not really fit into AMOC.
So the idea is to collect relevant science on this here.

Thank you Kassy!

The videos presented by Zamora are very compelling. I think the butterfly arrangement of the bays in the Plains and the Atlantic Coast are... undeniable. So they are not random.

He has additional videos where he goes into the physics and feasibility of ice boulders re-entering the atmosphere from the impact site atop the Laurentide Ice Sheet (and what is now Saginaw Bay). The lack of meteorites AND the layer of soot etc is explained by the fact that they were ICE impactors, not rock.

Zamora shows that ice at significant mass can easily survive atmospheric re-entry, especially glacial ice, which is extremely dense. He also shows that the magnitude of the explosions / impacts which created the Bays was immense. The size ranged from 3 kilotons to 3 megatons -- and there were several hundred thousand / MILLIONS of these impacts across the continent.

Why is there no evidence of the Clovis Peoples in these areas? Because they were totally and utterly pulverized and obliterated, and thereafter, a massive flood from the ice sheet washed any remaining traces into the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean.

[bbr2315]

PS: Here is Zamora's paper published in a scientific journal.

https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017Geomo.282..209Z/abstract

Geometrical analysis of the Carolina Bays using Google Earth in combination with LiDAR data makes it possible to postulate that the bays formed as the result of impacts, rather than from eolian and lacustrine processes. The Carolina Bays are elliptical conic sections with width-to-length ratios averaging 0.58 that are radially oriented toward the Great Lakes region. The radial distribution of ejecta is one characteristic of impacts, and the width-to-length ratios of the ellipses correspond to cones inclined at approximately 35°, which is consistent with ballistic trajectories from the point of convergence. These observations, and the fact that these geomorphological features occur only on unconsolidated soil close to the water table, make it plausible to propose that the Carolina Bays are the remodeled remains of oblique conical craters formed on ground liquefied by the seismic shock waves of secondary impacts of glacier ice boulders ejected by an extraterrestrial impact on the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Mathematical analysis using ballistic equations and scaling laws relating yield energy to crater size provide clues about the magnitude of the extraterrestrial event. An experimental model elucidates the remodeling mechanisms and provides an explanation for the morphology and the diverse dates of the bays.

More helpful reading:

http://www.impact-structures.com/2020/10/the-neglected-carolina-bays/

[bbr2315]

Here is another paper from 1975. Occam's Razor says that the Bays were the result of an extraterrestrial impact atop the ice sheet.

http://defendgaia.org/bobk/cbayint.html

The proposed model with shock waves from cometary fragments exploding above the surface creating a series of similar landforms is conceptually very simple, and is far less complex than most of the terrestrial models postulated recently. For geometrically regular forms such as Carolina Bays we prefer a simple causal mechanism if it is feasible.

Examination of impact mechanics and Carolina Bay morphometry eliminates traditional impact phenomena resulting from meteoroid swarms or asteroids. However, the unique orbital and physical characteristics of a comet favor a model in which a high velocity retrograde comet or a low velocity prograde comet collided with the Earth. The incoming nucleus approached from the northwest and fragmented. The fragments, diverging from the main trajectory, volatized and subsequently exploded in the atmosphere near the surface. The resultant shock waves created shallow elliptical depressions which are best displayed in the sandy sediments of the Coastal Plain.

This model is not fully substantiated. But, given the terrestrial and extraterrestrial constraints used in this paper, a comet remains a viable alternative worthy of further consideration. We hope that the physics of such an event can be explored, and that these results support our contention. We believe that a multidirected research effort will eventually result in a consensus about a truly enigmatic set of landforms.