Did an Asteroid Impact Cause an Ancient Tsunami?

NYT ^ | Nov 14 2006 | SANDRA BLAKESLEE

[Calvin Locke]

By definition, wouldn't they be decreasing? "...fewer than there was before..." type of deal, the larger one,
"rogue" 'roids, crashing where ever? With in a system of an age such as ours?

One of Art Bell's legitimate guests once said that while SETI was a worthwhile endeavor, they're looking in the
wrong places, that is, crowded systems where cosmic collisions are more likely to occur, and therefore,
wipe out any developed life back to the stone age.

Or at least the to the plow as the most important tool.

[ApplegateRanch]

So far, astronomers are skeptical but are willing to look at the evidence, said David Morrison, a leading authority on asteroids and comets at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif.

Good, Gaea! How open minded of them.

At least they have advanced since the days when they flatly refused to believe that rocks really could fall out of the sky.

Some of them still seem quite happy in their arrogance, however...Astronomers monitor every small space object with an orbit close to the Earth. “We know what’s out there, when they return, how close they come,” Dr. Morrison said.

I do believe the man means, "Astronomers monitor every KNOWN small space object...".

[Mad Dawg]

About the size of Ted Kennedy or Gerald Nadler traveling under impulse power?

Impulse power? I always thought of Teddy the Hutt as an alcohol fueled system. Or in the words of "Scotty" Clinton: I've givin' 'hr all she can take, cap'n. She's gonna blow!

No, wait, let me rephrase that.

[pleikumud]

"Well, don't have to spend a lot of time worrying about global warming"

Exactly! "global warming" is political science. Natural events such as Mount St. Helens' eruption have more impact than our styrofoam cups. If the earth's orbit around the sun were to vary just slightly (relative to 93 million miles distance to the sun) we would all be frozen or all be toast. "global warming" is nothing but speculation designed to support a political agenda.

[NYFriend]

My physics is pretty poor. I'm not sure how to figure this out. Water doesn't compress, but it can be displaced, however the displacement would be caused by a pressure wave, and a pressure wave can't travel faster than the speed of sound in that medium, so any energy beyond what it takes to displace water at the speed of sound is translated either into heat or hydraulically into the sea bed, right? I think I've got it, but I skipped physics and mechanics in college.

[djf]

I'm not sure either!! Does what you say mean that if I have a steel rod, say 5 miles long, and I smack the end of it with a sledge, that the far end doesn't move any faster than the sound wave would get there?

Either way, remember the vectors. The force it would take to displace the water and move it horizontally is almost perpendicular to the force of the object hitting the surface of the water (assuming it came down from directly overhead).

One hell of a mess. Not the kind of experiment I would advocate trying.

[NYFriend]

You're right about the vectors, which would also increase the amount of force directed towards the ocean floor.

As for your steel rod, no it's not limited by the speed of sound, because the force from your hammer blow isn't transmitted entirely as a pressure wave, the rid is a solid. Although, I suppose in your example, assuming the mass of the rod and hammer are the same (huge hammer, tiny rod), and I whacked the rod on my end with the hammer moving at twice the speed of sound, and you were standing on your end, I think what would happen is you'd see the rod move at twice the speed of sound (assume no friction, no inertia, and no bending on the part of the rod), you'd hear the sonic boom created by the rod's movement, then you'd both see and hear the rod vibrate due to the hammer strike (that vibration would move at the speed of sound in steel) and then you'd hear the boom from the hammer breaking the sound barrier and the sound of the hammer strike (which would move through the air at the speed of sound).

Again, I think this is what would happen. I'm not schooled in the hard sciences. Someone here can probably sort us both out.

[UCANSEE2]

"How large of an asteroid is needed to make an 18 mile diameter crater (under 12,500 feet of water)? Anyone know?"

It was not UNDER 12,500 feet of water (the area it hit) BEFORE the asteriod hit.

[RightWhale]

If the object can make a crater 18 miles across, the depth of water cover would not be a major factor.

[annie laurie]

Ping

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks! Blam pointed out the earlier topic about this, but I've added this one to the list as well.

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[SunkenCiv]

just an update:

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[SunkenCiv]

whoops.

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[dragnet2]

Interesting article. It implies that catastrophic cosmic strikes are more frequent than we currently believe. Question: How large of an asteroid is needed to make an 18 mile diameter crater (under 12,500 feet of water)? Anyone know?

It would depend on a few things. Like angle of impact, speed of the object, composition of the asteroid etc.

[SunkenCiv]

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Comet/Asteroid Impacts and Human Society ed by Peter T. Bobrowsky and Hans Rickman intro (PDF) due to links here

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[SunkenCiv]

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