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Did an Asteroid Impact Cause an Ancient Tsunami?
NYT ^
| Nov 14 2006
| SANDRA BLAKESLEE
Posted on 11/15/2006 8:00:40 PM PST by djf
At the southern end of Madagascar lie four enormous wedge-shaped sediment deposits, called chevrons, that are composed of material from the ocean floor. Each covers twice the area of Manhattan with sediment as deep as the Chrysler Building is high.
On close inspection, the chevron deposits contain deep ocean microfossils that are fused with a medley of metals typically formed by cosmic impacts. And all of them point in the same direction toward the middle of the Indian Ocean where a newly discovered crater, 18 miles in diameter, lies 12,500 feet below the surface.
The explanation is obvious to some scientists. A large asteroid or comet, the kind that could kill a quarter of the worlds population, smashed into the Indian Ocean 4,800 years ago, producing a tsunami at least 600 feet high, about 13 times as big as the one that inundated Indonesia nearly two years ago. The wave carried the huge deposits of sediment to land.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: aljazeeratimes; asteroids; astronomy; atlantis; catastrophism; chevrons; fenambosychevrons; godsgravesglyphs; greatflood; madagascar; megatsunami; megatsunamis; mikebaillie; tidalwave; tsunami; tsunamis
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1
posted on
11/15/2006 8:00:42 PM PST
by
djf
To: djf
When I get back online to my high-speed, I'm gonna try to get some satellite images.
2
posted on
11/15/2006 8:02:11 PM PST
by
djf
(Islam!! There's a flag on the moon! Guess whose? Hint: Not yours!)
To: djf
4,800 years ago? Hmmm, that might explain why much of our "civilized" world started by then.
There are reports of previous civilizations older than 6,000 years ago. Such as one city of at least 10,000 years or better ago.
Race memory?
3
posted on
11/15/2006 8:05:07 PM PST
by
Sen Jack S. Fogbound
(You have a Republic, if you can keep it! -- Ben Franklin)
To: Sen Jack S. Fogbound
Thing is, this isn't like having an 18 mile wide crater on the surface, which by itself would have been a catastrophe beyond description.
This is an 18 mile wide crater AFTER IT HAD TRAVELLED THROUGH 2 MILES OF OCEAN!!
I remember reading something about it raining forty days and forty nights, this sure would do it.
4
posted on
11/15/2006 8:09:23 PM PST
by
djf
(Islam!! There's a flag on the moon! Guess whose? Hint: Not yours!)
To: djf
5
posted on
11/15/2006 8:10:49 PM PST
by
nitzy
(It is never right to do the wrong thing for political expedience.)
To: djf
Egypt caused Global Warming - or God did. Take your choice.
6
posted on
11/15/2006 8:11:22 PM PST
by
edcoil
(Reality doesn't say much - doesn't need too)
To: zot
7
posted on
11/15/2006 8:12:08 PM PST
by
Interesting Times
(ABCNNBCBS -- yesterday's news.)
To: djf
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?
8
posted on
11/15/2006 8:15:51 PM PST
by
lafroste
(gravity is not a force. See my profile to read my novel absolutely free (I know, beyond shameless))
To: djf
the Earth suffers a violent impact on the order of a 10-megaton explosion. Instead of once in 500,000 to one million years, as astronomers now calculate, catastrophic impacts could happen every few thousand years. Well, don't have to spend a lot of time worrying about global warming...
9
posted on
11/15/2006 8:20:05 PM PST
by
GOPJ
(The MSM 's so busy kissing democrat butt they can't see straight - come up for air guys.)
To: lafroste
Dunno. But after thinking about it, there would be a huge pneumatic effect. Liquid does, after all, in a case like this practically act like a solid. A unbelievable compression wave would travel almost immediately to the ocean floor. Like God had a giant toilet plunger. I'm talking a really, really,really BIG toilet plunger.
Trillions of tons of seawater would be instantly evaporated. I would think they should look for salt layers in the area.
10
posted on
11/15/2006 8:21:11 PM PST
by
djf
(Islam!! There's a flag on the moon! Guess whose? Hint: Not yours!)
To: djf
It would be interesting to see a modern artist's interpretation of what that wave must have looked like in the final devastating moments. The roar alone must have been deafening...plus something that tall must have created an enormous wind that preceded it.
11
posted on
11/15/2006 8:22:21 PM PST
by
Blue Jays
(Rock Hard, Ride Free)
To: djf
12
posted on
11/15/2006 8:23:17 PM PST
by
DBrow
To: djf
13
posted on
11/15/2006 8:23:34 PM PST
by
null and void
("Jihad" just means "[My] Struggle", but then again, so does "Mein Kampf"...)
To: lafroste
How large of an asteroid is needed to make an 18 mile diameter crater (under 12,500 feet of water)? Anyone know?I would say somewhere between "big mother" and "homper-stomper". Of course, a more careful examination of the data might increase the estimate to "Some KIND of homper-stomper, I tell you WHAT" but we'll just have to wait for more information.
14
posted on
11/15/2006 8:23:44 PM PST
by
Mad Dawg
(Now we are all Massoud)
To: djf; Pharmboy
15
posted on
11/15/2006 8:26:08 PM PST
by
blam
To: blam
16
posted on
11/15/2006 8:26:43 PM PST
by
null and void
("Jihad" just means "[My] Struggle", but then again, so does "Mein Kampf"...)
To: null and void
Did a search on "ancient", didn't see it...
17
posted on
11/15/2006 8:28:05 PM PST
by
djf
(Islam!! There's a flag on the moon! Guess whose? Hint: Not yours!)
To: Sen Jack S. Fogbound
18
posted on
11/15/2006 8:30:45 PM PST
by
blam
To: djf
Yeah. The search function doesn't always work very well.
19
posted on
11/15/2006 8:31:09 PM PST
by
null and void
("Jihad" just means "[My] Struggle", but then again, so does "Mein Kampf"...)
To: djf
"Did a search on "ancient", didn't see it..." The more the merrier...I say.
20
posted on
11/15/2006 8:31:55 PM PST
by
blam
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