Comet that exploded in the air likely wiped out Clovis culture and megafauna
Evidence mounting that 13,000 years ago, a comet exploded over the Earth with devastating consequences. Now there is strong evidence to support this.
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A research team from the USA claims to have found the best evidence yet that a celestial body that exploded above the Earth 13,000 years ago may have played an important role in the extinction of a Paleo-Indian culture and the megafauna in North America. This is reported by the University of California, Santa Barbara, where the study was conducted. As part of the study, quartz formed under extremely high temperatures and pressure was found at three different sites in the southwestern United States. Because the celestial body left little or no traces on the surface, the quartz traces are particularly valuable. They also look exactly as one would expect for the presumed origin.
Particularly valuable evidence
The explosion is believed to have occurred almost 13,000 years ago over what is now northern Canada, triggering a noticeable cooling of the climate. This period is known as the Younger Dryas and, according to James Kennett's team, coincides with the extinction of mammoths, mastodons, and most other particularly large mammals. The beginning of this epoch also marks the end of the so-called Clovis culture, the first widespread prehistoric culture on the American continent. Kennett's team agrees with the hypothesis that a broken-up comet exploded in the Earth's atmosphere, causing widespread destruction on the surface and triggering climate change.
Over the past decades, various pieces of evidence have been gathered that support this scenario, the university writes. But now, the “crème de la crème” of cosmic impact traces has been found: shocked quartz. This is formed under extreme conditions from sand, but especially during cosmic impacts. It has been found at sites in California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Together with other evidence, the find supports the theory that a “cosmic impact was a major factor in the extinction of megafauna and the collapse of the Clovis culture at the beginning of the Younger Dryas period.” The work was published in the journal PLOS One.
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Just a few weeks ago, another research group announced that it may have discovered a crater associated with the explosion. It was found in the US state of Louisiana and is believed to have been created by a fragment that was knocked out of the comet at the time. Today, it is a small seasonal lake surrounded by a crater-like rim. According to the group, the discovery, and investigation of two similar events also suggests that powerful meteor detonations above the Earth's surface, which do not create large craters but can still have catastrophic consequences, may be more common than previously thought.
(mho)
