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Giant Crater Found [in Antarctica]: Tied to Worst Mass Extinction Ever [Permo-Triassic]
SPACE.com ^ | June 2, 2006 | Robert Roy Britt

Posted on 06/02/2006 11:44:43 AM PDT by cogitator

An apparent crater as big as Ohio has been found in Antarctica. Scientists think it was carved by a space rock that caused the greatest mass extinction on Earth, 250 million years ago.

The crater, buried beneath a half-mile of ice and discovered by some serious airborne and satellite sleuthing, is more than twice as big as the one involved in the demise of the dinosaurs.

The crater's location, in the Wilkes Land region of East Antarctica, south of Australia, suggests it might have instigated the breakup of the so-called Gondwana supercontinent, which pushed Australia northward, the researchers said.

"This Wilkes Land impact is much bigger than the impact that killed the dinosaurs, and probably would have caused catastrophic damage at the time," said Ralph von Frese, a professor of geological sciences at Ohio State University.

How they found it

The crater is about 300 miles wide. It was found by looking at differences in density that show up in gravity measurements taken with NASA's GRACE satellites. Researchers spotted a mass concentration, which they call a mascon—dense stuff that welled up from the mantle, likely in an impact.

"If I saw this same mascon signal on the Moon, I'd expect to see a crater around it," Frese said. (The Moon, with no atmosphere, retains a record of ancient impacts in the visible craters there.)

So Frese and colleagues overlaid data from airborne radar images that showed a 300-mile wide sub-surface, circular ridge. The mascon fit neatly inside the circle.

"And when we looked at the ice-probing airborne radar, there it was," he said today.

Smoking gun?

The Permian-Triassic extinction, as it is known, wiped out most life on land and in the oceans. Researchers have long suspected a space rock might have been involved. Some scientists have blamed volcanic activity or other culprits.

The die-off set up conditions that eventually allowed dinosaurs to rule the planet.

The newfound crater is more than twice the size of the Chicxulub crater in the Yucatan peninsula, which marks the impact that may have ultimately killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. The Chicxulub space rock is thought to have been 6 miles wide, while the Wilkes Land meteor could have been up to 30 miles wide, the researchers said.

Confirmation needed

Postdoctoral researcher Laramie Potts assisted in the discovery.

The work was financed by NASA and the National Science Foundation. The discovery, announced today, was initially presented in a poster paper at the recent American Geophysical Union Joint Assembly meeting in Baltimore.

The researchers say further work is needed to confirm the finding. One way to do that would be to go there and collect rock from the crater to see if its structure matches what would be expected from such a colossal impact.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: antarctic; antarctica; australia; bushsfault; catastrophism; chicxulub; deccantraps; dinosaurs; extinction; godsgravesglyphs; impact; inconvenienttruth; massextinction; permian; triassic; velaincident
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To: RunningWolf
What happened to the "insert favorite mass global extinction theory" Well I guess just about any humongous crater can be used to infer a mass extinction at just about any point in time that a particular subset of 'scientists' might find it convenient to. Grab hold of the fossil set you need from the bin of eternity, apply some creative dating techniques to it to get your theory into the desired range(toss out the ones you dont like for the moment), then back to the fossil record again to get evidence/give some evidence back and viola! you have your next greatest mass extinction! Now to cinch the deal, we will go to the 'dna record'. This is after of course we filter out all the 'junk dna information' and let's brush aside that probability that the complex dna molecules just might be corrupted and altered in ways we cant see much less imagine in the extraction process.

Just out of curiosity, are you really under the impression that repeatedly lying about how this kind of science is actually done will increase the credibility of the anti-science slanders of you and your creationist buddies?

Because if so, I have to inform you that it's not working the way you intend it to.

101 posted on 06/02/2006 10:15:58 PM PDT by Ichneumon (Ignorance is curable, but the afflicted has to want to be cured.)
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To: Glenn
Right. Our religious leaders have done so much to explain the observable.

It is the unobservable that religion explains. Far ahead of the scientific method. :-)

102 posted on 06/02/2006 10:21:37 PM PDT by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all that needs to be done, needs to be done by the government.)
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To: Mind-numbed Robot; Glenn
It is the unobservable that religion explains. Far ahead of the scientific method. :-)

If something is "unobservable", it hardly needs explaining, since it may well not even exist in the first place.

Before you disagree, ponder the full meaning of the word "unobservable".

103 posted on 06/03/2006 1:02:18 AM PDT by Ichneumon (Ignorance is curable, but the afflicted has to want to be cured.)
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To: editor-surveyor
If you really think that the great Bible scholars have failed to adequately expound upon the pertinant realities of our time I do.

If you are seriously interested in the scientific v. religious methods for investigating the "we", read "The Universe in a Single Atom" by the Dalai Lama and then get back to me.

104 posted on 06/03/2006 4:17:48 AM PDT by Glenn (Annoy a BushBot...Think for yourself.)
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To: cogitator
The researchers say further work is needed to confirm the finding.

Show me duh money!!!

Cuba Gooding

105 posted on 06/03/2006 5:45:01 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going....)
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To: kerryusama04
I didn't know that the "dinosaurs were killed by a meteor" theory had graduated to fact.

Ya tell something long enough......

106 posted on 06/03/2006 5:49:22 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going....)
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To: Ichneumon
 
 

Ignorance is curable, but the afflicted has to want to be cured.

 


Mammal-Like Reptiles

As previously stated, a succession of transitional fossils exists that link reptiles (Class Reptilia) and mammals (Class Mammalia). These particular reptiles are classifie as Subclass Synapsida. Presently, this is the best example of th e transformation of one major higher taxon into another. The morphologic changes that took place are well documented by fossils, beginning with animals essentially 100% reptilian and resulting in animals essentially 100% mammalian. Therefore, I have chosen this as the example to summarize in more detail (Table 1, Fig. 1).  

    
Comparisons
 
 
M. Eyes =           ?       
   Nose =           ?    
   Teeth incisors = ?
 
 
 
K. Eyes =           ?       
   Nose =           pointy
   Teeth incisors = smaller fangs 
 
 
 
J. Eyes =           Medium
   Nose =           stubby    
   Teeth incisors = BIGGER fangs 
 
 
 
I. Eyes =           Medium
   Nose =           more pointy
   Teeth incisors = big fangs
 
 
 
H. Eyes =           Bigger
   Nose =           more blunt
   Teeth incisors = Even more 
 
 
 
 
G. Eyes =           real SMALL
   Nose =           Real pointy
   Teeth incisors = More
 
 
 
 
 
F. Eyes =           Smaller
   Nose =           Blunt
   Teeth incisors = Thin, less
 
 
 
 
E. Eyes =           HUGE!
   Nose =           pointy, again
   Teeth incisors = Smaller
 
 
 
 
D. Eyes =           Smaller
   Nose =           Holes bigger
   Teeth incisors = Bigger
 
 
 
 
C. Eyes =           Huge, again!
   Nose =           broader
   Teeth incisors = very small
 
 
 
 
B. Eyes =           less huge
   Nose =           narrower
   Teeth incisors = ??
 
 
 
 
A. Eyes =           big
   Nose =           rounded
   Teeth incisors = small
 

Skulls and jaws of synapsid reptiles and mammals; left column side view of skull; center column top view of skull; right column side view of lower jaw. Hylonomus modified from Carroll (1964, Figs. 2,6; 1968, Figs. 10-2, 10-5; note that Hylonomus is a protorothyrod, not a synapsid). Archaeothyris modified from Reisz (1972, Fig. 2). Haptodus modified from Currie (1977, Figs, 1a, 1b; 1979, Figs. 5a, 5b). Sphenacodo n modified from Romer & Price (1940, Fig. 4f), Allin (1975, p. 3, Fig. 16);note: Dimetrodon substituted for top view; modified from Romer & Price, 1940, pl. 10. Biarmosuchus modified from Ivakhnenko et al. (1997, pl. 65, Figs. 1a, 1B, 2); Alin & Hopson (1992; Fig. 28.4c); Sigogneau & Tchudinov (1972, Figs. 1, 15). Eoarctops modified from Broom (1932, Fig. 35a); Boonstra (1969, Fig. 18). Pristerognathus modified from Broom (1932, Figs 17a, b,c); Boonstra (1963, Fig. 5d). Procynosuchus modified from Allin & Hopson (1992, Fig. 28.4e); Hopson (1987, Fig. 5c); Brink (1963, Fig. 10a); Kemp (1979, Fig. 1); Allin (1975, p. 3, Fig. 14). Thrinaxodon modified from Allin & Hopson (1992, Fig. 28.4f);Parrington (1946, Fig. 1); Allin (1975, p. 3, Fig. 13). Probainognathus modified from Allin & Hopson (1992, Fig. 28.4g); Romer (1970, Fig. 1); Allin (1975, p. 3, Fig. 12). Morga nucodon modified from Kermack, Mussett, & Rigney (1981, Figs. 95, 99a; 1973, Fig. 7a); Allin (1975, p. 3, Fig. 11). Asioryctes modified from Carroll (1988, Fig. 20-3b). Abbreviations: ag = angular; ar = articular; cp = coronoid process; d = dentary; f = lateral temporal fenestra; j = jugal; mm = attachment site for mammalian jaw muscles; o = eye socket; po = post orbital; q = quadrate; rl = reflected lamina; sq = squamosal; ty = tympanic. .
 
 
 


 
Are you convinced yet?
 
Oscillating eye sizes,
head shapes that shift back and forth,
teeth that are large, then small, then large again.
 
Yeah; I believe this stuff!

(The chart is from The Fossil Record: Evolution or "Scientific Creation" by Clifford A. Cuffey. It is on part 5 of a multipart article. The beginning of the article is here.  )

There are some Evo's who think... "It effectively demolishes the entire creationist argument. Excellent reading!"

After seeing these pix; do you?

107 posted on 06/03/2006 5:52:53 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going....)
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To: Ichneumon

Somebody's shorts are wadded today!


108 posted on 06/03/2006 5:56:18 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going....)
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To: Elsie
This just in!!!
 
ANOTHER crater found!!!
 
 MUCH larger than the other one!!
 
Right under to 70 degree symbol at top of picture!!!
 
 
 
--------------------------------\
                                 |
                                 |
                                 V

109 posted on 06/03/2006 6:03:48 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going....)
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To: Glenn

The dali lama is not one of God's children, thus any time spent reading his demonic mental tortures is utterly wasted. From naught to naught.


110 posted on 06/03/2006 12:01:02 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Atheist and Fool are synonyms; Evolution is where fools hide from the sunrise)
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To: Ichneumon; Agamemnon
I'd end this by suggesting that you "do the math", but clearly, that would be asking something beyond your abilities."

Your derrision of others must certainly be based in self-projection. As an evo-true-believer, your rejection of mathematics is obvious, since the two are mutually exclusive, but you will find that FR is mostly populated by people whose livlihoods are totally dependant on the professional use of mathematics, rather than odd belief systems like yourself.

111 posted on 06/03/2006 12:10:17 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Atheist and Fool are synonyms; Evolution is where fools hide from the sunrise)
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To: editor-surveyor
The dali lama is not one of God's children, thus any time spent reading his demonic mental tortures is utterly wasted

Then you're not serious.

Oh, well. Your loss.

112 posted on 06/03/2006 12:55:39 PM PDT by Glenn (Annoy a BushBot...Think for yourself.)
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Catastrophism

113 posted on 06/03/2006 4:43:09 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: Glenn

Oh I'm serious, that's why I'm not going to disobey the Lord and dabble in humanist error.


114 posted on 06/03/2006 5:17:46 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Atheist and Fool are synonyms; Evolution is where fools hide from the sunrise)
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Comment #115 Removed by Moderator

Comment #116 Removed by Moderator

To: editor-surveyor
that's why I'm not going to disobey the Lord and dabble in humanist error.

I missed that instruction in the Bible.

117 posted on 06/04/2006 4:04:01 AM PDT by Glenn (Annoy a BushBot...Think for yourself.)
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To: Glenn

Read Paul's letter to the collossians. The same instruction is also stated in several places in Proverbs.


118 posted on 06/04/2006 9:42:20 AM PDT by editor-surveyor (Atheist and Fool are synonyms; Evolution is where fools hide from the sunrise)
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To: DaveLoneRanger
"We don't know that the flood killed the dinosaurs"

You're correct, in fact we know that the flood didn't kill a number of them, such as triceritops foe example. I was just poking fun at them, but obviously didn't handle it quite well enough.

119 posted on 06/04/2006 10:09:50 AM PDT by editor-surveyor (Atheist and Fool are synonyms; Evolution is where fools hide from the sunrise)
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To: cogitator

I am an avowed enemy of rocks.


120 posted on 06/04/2006 10:16:19 AM PDT by Lazamataz (First we beat the Soviet Union. Then we became them.)
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