Posted on 11/21/2003 12:16:33 PM PST by balrog666
Fragments may be 250 million years old
About three dozen microscopic shards of rock unearthed in Antarctica may be the fragments of a meteor that killed most of life on earth 250 million years ago, scientists reported Friday. .
The shards bolster theories that meteors caused several of the mass extinctions in earth's history when large numbers of species died out almost simultaneously. Most scientists agree that the most recent major mass extinction 65 million years ago, which killed off the dinosaurs, was caused when a meteor struck the earth near the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. .
The extinction 250 million years ago, known as the Permian-Triassic boundary, was the largest extinction of all. More than 90 percent of species living in the oceans and 70 percent of those on land disappeared. .
At present, the primary suspected cause for the Permian-Triassic extinction is giant volcanic eruptions in Siberia, which might have induced catastrophic ecological changes. .
Writing in Friday's issue of the journal Science, the researchers report that they found the meteorite fragments in rocks in Antarctica that date to the Permian-Triassic boundary. The mineral composition of the fragments, each less than one-fiftieth of an inch, or roughly half a millimeter, wide, correspond to that of certain meteorites and is like nothing found naturally on earth, they reported. .
In addition, the scientists said, the same rocks had previously yielded soccer-ball-shaped molecules known as buckyballs containing extraterrestrial gases as well as grains of quartz with fractures that indicate they had been hit with a tremendous shock. .
"Clearly, this evidence points toward a major impact at the Permian-Triassic boundary," said Asish Basu, a professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Rochester in New York and lead author of the Science paper. That, he said, is "the most reasonable interpretation." .
The same researchers will report at a American Geological Union meeting next week in San Francisco that they have also found tiny metal spheres they believe were part of the earth's crust and melted by the impact. .
Others are not yet convinced. Eldridge Moores, an emeritus professor of geology at the University of California at Davis, described the meteorite fragments as "the most interesting evidence for a meteorite event at this boundary that I've seen so far." .
But, he added, while the evidence for the dinosaur-killing meteor 65 million years ago is a convincing 10 on a 1-to-10 scale, the evidence for a killer meteor at the Permian-Triassic boundary is not nearly as solid. "I think it's now up to 3 or 4," he said. "It's not 9 or 10." .
Douglas Erwin of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington said, "It's suggestive, but it's hardly compelling." Each piece of evidence offered so far has not by itself been compelling. .
The description of shocked quartz, he said, was tentative, even by the researcher who reported it, and other scientists have failed to reproduce the findings of buckyballs and extraterrestrial gases. If a meteor caused this largest of all extinctions, "I find it remarkable that there's so little evidence," Erwin said. .
If the evidence for an impact does become more compelling, that would raise another geological mystery: whether meteor impacts can set off gigantic volcanic eruptions. Huge eruptions in India coincided with the Yucatán meteor impact 65 million years ago. .
To date, most geologists have argued that meteors are not powerful enough to crack the earth's crust. Basu, who is strongly convinced that a meteor struck the Earth 250 million years ago, believes coincidence is not likely. "There has to be a connection," he said.
A pillar of fire by night and a staff by day. - Exodus
Where's the petroluem in Texas? The Permian Basin.
Where is President Bush from? Texas.
What is petroleum made from? Extinct organisms.
Bush obviously knew about the impending Permian-Triassic extinction. He and his Skull & Bones buddies arranged for a meteor impact that wiped out over 70% of species living on land. No doubt women and minority species were hardest hit. What was their motive for this massive war crime? OIL! Bush's Texas oil buddies arranged for the Permian-Triassic extinction, just to ensure that they would be able to drill for oil!
NO IRIDIUM FOR OIL! (c8
Soylent GreenTM, on the other hand ...
What about all the "documented" cases where a girl says she was walking in a field by herself and a god appeared and put her in a trance and had his way with her. And then she has this baby. You believe her, don't you? She's a good girl. No one can refuse the gods. I just know you believe her, because you believe stories about rocks falling from the sky.
Way cute, dOOd. Especially since it was a Democrat that lied through his teeth about the original Gulf of Tonkin incident.
Satan did it to deceive us, tricky bastard that he is. Meteors, fossils, dinosaur bones ......yep, he's quite a little devil ;)
I can get you thousands of witnesses that they were confused by butterfly ballots and kept from the polls by racist cops, and Gore really won the election. And I can show you the ballots too! Whoopie!!
Better not go outdoors without wearing a steel helmet. I hear that rocks are falling from the sky.
Did you hear that? Tell me, should I wear the steel helmet under or over my tin foil one? ;)
Now we need to prove the Knights-Templars and Rosicrucians are behind it all.
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