Comet explosion 13,000 years ago- 'Hell on Earth'

A comet exploded over the Earth nearly 13,000 years ago, creating a
hail of fireballs that set fire to most of the northern hemisphere, explaining three of the highest-debated controversies of recent decades.

• the sudden disappearance of the first Stone Age people of America,
• the
  disappearance of mammoths throughout much of Europe and America
• the
  sudden cooling of the planet, an event known as the Younger-Dryas
  period.

"The result would have been hell on Earth.", said Arizona geophysicist Allen West.

Wednesday, 23 May

Ancient Diamond Debris Suggests Deadly, Climate-changing Blast

Investigations of a buried layer at sites from California to Belgium reveal materials that include metallic microspherules, carbon spherules, nanodiamonds, fullerenes, charcoal, and soot. The layer's composition may indicate that a massive body, possibly a comet, exploded in the atmosphere over the Laurentide Ice Sheet 12,900 years ago. The timing coincides with a great die-off of mammoths and other North American megafauna and the onset of a period of cooling in Northern Europe and elswhere known as the Younger Dryas Event. Speakers will discuss numerous lines of evidence contributing to the impact hypothesis. The nature and frequency of this new kind of impact event could have major implications for our understanding of extinctions and climate change.

Participants

• * Richard Firestone : Staff Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA;
• * James Kennett: Professor, Dept. of Earth Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA;
• * Allen West: Geoscience Consulting, Dewey, Arizona, USA;
• * Luann Becker: Associate Researcher, Institute for Crustal Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA.