Clovis comet

The Clovis comet hypothesis is a scientific theory that attempts to explain the extinction of most of the large animals in North America and the demise of the North American stone age Clovis culture about 12,900 years ago at the end of the Pleistocene epoch. It proposes that the best explanation for these and other events in the geological record is an air burst from a large comet which set vast areas of the North American continent on fire.

The theory is the product of a team of geologists at American universities, among them James P. Kennett of the University of California, Richard B. Firestone of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Douglas J. Kennett and Jon M. Erlandson of the University of Oregon.

In support of the theory is a mysterious, charred carbon-rich layer of soil that has been found at some 50 Clovis-age sites across the continent. The layer contains metallic microspherules, iridium, carbon spherules, fullerenes, charcoal and soot, all indicative of a space impact event.

The Carolina bays, shallow elongated depressions all along America's east coast, have been suspected to be impact ejecta structures since the 1930s, but this theory of their formation had since fallen out of favor. They would also point to an impact around the Lake Michigan area. [ [http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/cbayint.html A Re-evaluation of the Extraterrestrial Origin of the Carolina Bays] by J. Ronald Eyton & Judith I. Parkhurst, Paper Number 9, April 1975,Geography Graduate Student Association, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. ]

The theory supposes a comet impact with Earth, exploding above or even into the Laurentide Ice Sheet north of the Great Lakes. The impact would have been similar to the Tunguska event of 1908 but many orders of magnitude larger in scale. It would have set off forest fires from coast to coast. Animal and human life not killed by the blast or fires would have starved in the burnt remains of the forests.

The British science journal Nature addressed the theory in a news story on May 16 2007.

A study published in August 2008 states "The results of the analyses were not consistent with the predictions of extraterrestrial impact hypothesis. No evidence of a population decline among the Paleoindians at 12,900 ± 100 calBP was found. Thus, minimally, the study suggests the extraterrestrial impact hypothesis should be amended." [B Buchanan, M Collard & K Edinborough 2008. "Paleoindian demography and the extraterrestrial impact hypothesis " "PNAS" August 19, 2008 vol. 105 no. 33 11651-11654 doi: 10.1073/pnas.0803762105 [http://www.pnas.org/content/105/33/11651.abstract?sid=9d193f91-add8-4105-b36f-d39804b70daa] ]

References

* [http://allendale-expedition.net/publications/comet.pdf THE CLOVIS COMET Part I:Evidence for a Cosmic Collision 12,900 Years Ago] In the Mammoth Trumpet, Volume 23 Number 1, by Allen West GeoScience Consulting and Albert Goodyear South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology. Accessed August 2008
* [http://www.realscience.us/2007/05/24/clovis-comet/ Clovis Comet ] at Real Science blog. Accessed August 2008
* [http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/530208/ New Clovis-Age Comet Impact Theory] Newswise 2008
* [http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/New_Clovis_Age_Comet_Impact_Theory_999.html New Clovis-Age Comet Impact Theory] SpaceDaily.com May 23, 2007. Accessed August 2008.
* New Scientist - Heather Pringle [http://space.newscientist.com/article/mg19426052.900 Firestorm from space wiped out prehistoric Americans] 26 May 2007

External links

* [http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=91566C328E999E76 Video of the 2007 AGU Acapulco Joint Assembly, and the 2008 Pecos Archeological Conference, where the theory and the evidence were presented]