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

[Mr EMan]

--- 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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