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{{Short description|Hypothesis on what initiated the Younger Dryas climatic period (stadial)}}
The '''Younger Dryas impact hypothesis''' or '''Clovis comet hypothesis''' originally proposed that a large ] or earth ] of one or more ]s initiated the ] cold period about 12,900&nbsp;] ] (10,900&nbsp;<sup>14</sup>C uncalibrated) years ago.<ref name="Firestone2006">{{cite book |last1=Firestone |first1=Richard |last2=West |first2=Allen |last3=Warwick-Smith|first3=Simon |title=The Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes: How a Stone-Age Comet Changed the Course of World Culture |url=http://www.amazon.com/The-Cycle-Cosmic-Catastrophes-Stone-Age/dp/1591430615 |date=4 June 2006 |publisher=Bear & Company |isbn=1591430615 |pages=392}}</ref><ref name="PNAS07A">{{cite journal |author=Firestone RB, West A, Kennett JP, et al. |title=Evidence for an extraterrestrial impact 12,900 years ago that contributed to the megafaunal extinctions and the Younger Dryas cooling |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=104 |issue=41 |pages=16016–21 |date=October 2007 |pmid=17901202 |pmc=1994902 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0706977104 |url=|bibcode = 2007PNAS..10416016F }}</ref><ref name=Bunch>{{cite journal |author=Bunch TE, Hermes RE, Moore AM, et al. |title=Very high-temperature impact melt products as evidence for cosmic airbursts and impacts 12,900 years ago |journal=Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A |volume= 109|issue= 28|pages= E1903–12|date=June 2012 |pmid=22711809 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1204453109 |url=|bibcode = 2012PNAS..109E1903B }}</ref> The hypothesis has been refuted by research showing that most of the conclusions cannot be repeated by other scientists, and criticized because of misinterpretation of data and the lack of confirmatory evidence.<ref>{{cite journal|doi= 10.1126/science.329.5996.1140 |title= Mammoth-Killer Impact Flunks Out |journal=Science|pages= 1140–1|issue= 5996 |volume= 329 |date= 3 September 2010|pmid= 20813931 |bibcode=2010Sci...329.1140K|last1= Kerr|first1= R. A.}}</ref><ref name="Pinter">{{cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.earscirev.2011.02.005|title=The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis: A requiem|year=2011|last1=Pinter|first1=Nicholas|last2=Scott|first2=Andrew C.|last3=Daulton|first3=Tyrone L.|last4=Podoll|first4=Andrew|last5=Koeberl|first5=Christian|last6=Anderson|first6=R. Scott|last7=Ishman|first7=Scott E.|journal=Earth-Science Reviews|volume=106|issue=3–4|pages=247|bibcode = 2011ESRv..106..247P }}</ref><ref name=Pigati/><ref name="Boslough">{{cite journal|last=Boslough|first=M.|coauthors=K. Nicoll, V. Holliday, T. L. Daulton, D. Meltzer, N. Pinter, A. C. Scott, T. Surovell, P. Claeys, J. Gill, F. Paquay, J. Marlon, P. Bartlein, C. Whitlock, D. Grayson, and A. J. T. Jull|title=Arguments and Evidence Against a Younger Dryas Impact Event|journal=GEOPHYSICAL MONOGRAPH SERIES|year=2012|volume=198|pages=13–26|accessdate=4 February 2013|doi=10.1029/2012gm001209}}</ref><ref name="Meltzer2014">{{cite journal |author=Meltzer DJ, Holliday VT, Cannon MD, Miller DS |title=Chronological evidence fails to support claim of an isochronous widespread layer of cosmic impact indicators dated to 12,800 years ago |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume= 111|issue= 21|pages= E2162–71|date=May 2014 |pmid=24821789 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1401150111 |url=}}</ref>
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}}{{Multiple issues|
{{Unreliable sources|date=August 2022}}
{{Undue weight|date=August 2022}}
{{Technical|date=October 2022}}
}}
The '''Younger Dryas impact hypothesis''' (YDIH) proposes that the onset of the ] (YD) cool period (]) at the end of the ], around 12,900 years ago was the result of some kind of cosmic event with specific details varying between publications.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|location=Sec 1}} The hypothesis is widely rejected by relevant experts.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Holliday |first1=Vance T. |last2=Daulton |first2=Tyrone L. |last3=Bartlein |first3=Patrick J. |last4=Boslough |first4=Mark B. |last5=Breslawski |first5=Ryan P. |last6=Fisher |first6=Abigail E. |last7=Jorgeson |first7=Ian A. |last8=Scott |first8=Andrew C. |last9=Koeberl |first9=Christian |last10=Marlon |first10=Jennifer |last11=Severinghaus |first11=Jeffrey |last12=Petaev |first12=Michail I. |last13=Claeys |first13=Philippe |date=2023-07-26 |title=Comprehensive refutation of the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis (YDIH) |journal=Earth-Science Reviews |volume=247 |language=en |doi=10.1016/j.earscirev.2023.104502|doi-access=free |bibcode=2023ESRv..24704502H }}</ref>{{sfnp|Powell|2022}} It is influenced by ], and has been compared to ] by its critics due to the lack of reproducibility of results.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last1=Holliday |first1=Vance T. |last2=Daulton |first2=Tyrone L. |last3=Bartlein |first3=Patrick J. |last4=Boslough |first4=Mark B. |last5=Breslawski |first5=Ryan P. |last6=Fisher |first6=Abigail E. |last7=Jorgeson |first7=Ian A. |last8=Scott |first8=Andrew C. |last9=Koeberl |first9=Christian |last10=Marlon |first10=Jennifer |last11=Severinghaus |first11=Jeffrey |last12=Petaev |first12=Michail I. |last13=Claeys |first13=Philippe |date=2024 |title= Rebuttal of Sweatman, Powell, and West's "Rejection of Holliday et al.'s alleged refutation of the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis" |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012825224002897 |journal=Earth-Science Reviews |volume=258|language=en |page=3 |doi=10.1016/j.earscirev.2024.104961 }}</ref> It is an alternative to the long-standing and widely accepted explanation that the Younger Dryas was caused by a significant reduction in, or shutdown of the ] due to a sudden influx of freshwater from ] and deglaciation in North America.<ref name="Dalton">{{Cite journal |last=Dalton |first=Rex |name-list-style=vanc |date=16 May 2007 |title=Blast in the past? |journal=] |volume=447 |issue=7142 |pages=256–257 |bibcode=2007Natur.447..256D |doi=10.1038/447256a |pmid=17507957 |doi-access=free |s2cid=11927411}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{harvp|Sun|Brandon|Forman|Waters|2020|page=1}}: "The prevailing hypothesis is that the cooling and stratification of the North Atlantic Ocean were a consequence of massive ice sheet discharge of meltwater and icebergs and resulted in reduction or cessation of the North Atlantic Conveyor."</ref><ref name="NJones">{{cite journal |last1=Jones |first1=N |title=Evidence found for planet-cooling asteroid |journal=Nature |date=2 September 2013 |doi=10.1038/nature.2013.13661 |s2cid=131715496 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2013.13661}}</ref>


In 2007, the first YDIH paper<ref name="PNAS07A">{{Cite journal |author-link3=James P. Kennett |author-link7=Peter H. Schultz |author-link10=Jon M. Erlandson |author-link12=Albert Goodyear |display-authors=8 |vauthors=Firestone RB, West A, Kennett JP, Becker L, Bunch TE, Revay ZS, Schultz PH, Belgya T, Kennett DJ, Erlandson JM, Dickenson OJ, Goodyear AC, Harris RS, Howard GA, Kloosterman JB, Lechler P, Mayewski PA, Montgomery J, Poreda R, Darrah T, Hee SS, Smith AR, Stich A, Topping W, Wittke JH, Wolbach WS |date=9 October 2007 |title=Evidence for an extraterrestrial impact 12,900&nbsp;years ago that contributed to the megafaunal extinctions and the Younger Dryas cooling |journal=] |volume=104 |issue=41 |pages=16016–21 |bibcode=2007PNAS..10416016F |doi=10.1073/pnas.0706977104 |pmc=1994902 |pmid=17901202 |doi-access=free}}</ref> speculated that a comet airburst over North America created a Younger Dryas boundary (YDB) layer; however, inconsistencies have been identified in other published results.<ref name=":1" /> Authors have not yet responded to requests for clarification and have never made their raw data available.<ref name=":7" /> Some YDIH proponents have also proposed that this event triggered extensive ] burning, a brief ] that destabilized the Atlantic Conveyor and triggered the Younger Dryas instance of ]<ref name="PNAS07A" />{{Rp|page=p. 16021}} which contributed to ], and resulted in the disappearance of the ].<ref name=":2">{{harvp|Powell|2022|page=1}}: "The hypothesis proposes that the airburst or impact of a comet ~12,850 years ago caused the ensuing ~1200-year-long Younger Dryas (YD) cool period and contributed to the extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna in the Western Hemisphere and the disappearance of the Clovis PaleoIndian culture."</ref><ref>{{harvp|Pino|Abarzúa|Astorga|Martel-Cea|2019|page=1}}: "The Younger Dryas (YD) impact hypothesis posits that fragments of a large, disintegrating asteroid/comet struck North America, South America, Europe, and western Asia ~12,800 years ago. Multiple airbursts/impacts produced the YD boundary layer (YDB), depositing peak concentrations of platinum, high-temperature spherules, meltglass, and nanodiamonds, forming an isochronous datum at >50 sites across ~50 million km² of Earth's surface. This proposed event triggered extensive biomass burning, brief impact winter, YD climate change, and contributed to extinctions of late Pleistocene megafauna."</ref>
One impact hypothesis states that the air burst(s) or impact(s) of a swarm of ] or ] fragments set areas of the ] continent on fire, causing the ] in ] and the demise of the North American ] after the ].<ref name= "Kennett"/> The Younger Dryas ice age lasted for about 1,200 years before the climate warmed again. This swarm is hypothesized to have exploded above or possibly on the ] in the region of the ], though no impact crater has been yet identified and no physical model by which a such a swarm could form or explode in the air has been proposed. Nevertheless, the proponents suggest that it would be physically possible for such an air burst to have been similar to but orders of magnitude larger than the ] of 1908. The hypothesis proposed that animal and human life in North America not directly killed by the blast or the resulting coast-to-coast ]s would have likely starved on the burned surface of the continent.

== Comet research group ==
The Comet research group (CRG), dedicated to investigating the YDIH, was established in 2016<ref name=":0" /> by Allen West{{efn|Allen West (originally Allen Whitt until he changed his name legally in 2006) is described as having no formal academic affiliation and a degree from a Bible college which he wouldn't name.<ref name="Dalton2011" />}} (and others).<ref name="Dalton2011">{{Cite web |last=Dalton |first=Rex |name-list-style=vanc |date=May 14, 2011 |title=Comet Theory Comes Crashing to Earth |url=https://psmag.com/environment/comet-claim-comes-crashing-to-earth-31180 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211004633/https://psmag.com/environment/comet-claim-comes-crashing-to-earth-31180 |archive-date=11 February 2021 |access-date=24 July 2019 |website=]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2024-03-05 |title=The Comet Strike Theory That Just Won’t Die |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/05/magazine/younger-dryas-impact-hypothesis-comet.html |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241213134927/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/05/magazine/younger-dryas-impact-hypothesis-comet.html |archive-date=2024-12-13 |access-date=2024-12-19 |language=en}}</ref> Their stated mission is to "find evidence about comet impacts and raise awareness about them before your city is next."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-07-14 |title=Comet Research Group |url=https://cometresearchgroup.org/ |access-date=2024-11-24 |website= |language=en-US}}</ref>

The credibility and motivations of individual CRG researchers have been questioned by critics of the impact hypothesis, including their specific claims for evidence in support of the YDIH and/or the effects of meteor air bursts or impact events on ancient settlements, people, and environments.<ref name=":0" /> Doubts have been raised about several of the CRG's other claims.;<ref>{{cite web |last=Marcus |first=Adam |date=1 October 2021 |title=Criticism engulfs paper claiming an asteroid destroyed Biblical Sodom and Gomorrah |url=https://retractionwatch.com/2021/10/01/criticism-engulfs-paper-claiming-an-asteroid-destroyed-biblical-sodom-and-gomorrah/ |access-date=24 November 2021 |website=Retraction Watch}}</ref> for example a 2021 paper suggested that a ]-sized or larger airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, a Middle Bronze Age city located in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea around 1650 BCE.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bunch |first1=Ted E. |last2=LeCompte |first2=Malcolm A. |last3=Adedeji |first3=A. Victor |last4=Wittke |first4=James H. |last5=Burleigh |first5=T. David |last6=Hermes |first6=Robert E. |last7=Mooney |first7=Charles |last8=Batchelor |first8=Dale |last9=Wolbach |first9=Wendy S. |last10=Kathan |first10=Joel |last11=Kletetschka |first11=Gunther |last12=Patterson |first12=Mark C. L. |last13=Swindel |first13=Edward C. |last14=Witwer |first14=Timothy |last15=Howard |first15=George A. |date=2021-09-20 |title=A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea |journal=Scientific Reports |language=en |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=18632 |doi=10.1038/s41598-021-97778-3 |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=8452666 |pmid=34545151|bibcode=2021NatSR..1118632B }}</ref> Image forensics expert ] discovered evidence for digital alteration of images used as evidence for the claim that the village of ] was engulfed by an airburst.<ref name=":6">{{Cite news |date=6 October 2021 |title=Paper That Claimed Asteroid Destroyed Biblical Sodom Comes Under Pall of Doubt |url=https://science.thewire.in/society/religion/tall-el-hammam-sodom-asteroid-destruction-image-manipulation/ |work=The Science Wire}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kincaid |first=Ellie |date=2023-02-21 |title=Journal investigating Sodom comet paper for data problems |url=https://retractionwatch.com/2023/02/21/journal-investigating-sodom-comet-paper-for-data-problems/ |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=Retraction Watch |language=en-US}}</ref> CRG members initially denied tampering with the photos but eventually published a correction in which they admitted to inappropriate image manipulation.<ref>{{Cite Q|Q111021706|author-link19=James P. Kennett|last1=Bunch|first1=Ted E.|last2=LeCompte|first2=Malcolm A.|last3=Adedeji|first3=A. Victor|last4=Wittke|first4=James H.|last5=Burleigh|first5=T. David|last6=Hermes|first6=Robert E.|last7=Mooney|first7=Charles|last8=Batchelor|first8=Dale|last9=Wolbach|first9=Wendy S.|last10=Kathan|first10=Joel|last11=Kletetschka|first11=Gunther|last12=Patterson|first12=Mark C. L.|last13=Swindel|first13=Edward C.|last14=Witwer|first14=Timothy|last15=Howard|first15=George A.|last16=Mitra|first16=Siddhartha|last17=Moore|first17=Christopher R.|last18=Langworthy|first18=Kurt|last19=Kennett|first19=James P.|last20=West|first20=Allen|last21=Silvia|first21=Phillip J.|display-authors=8|doi-access=free}}</ref> Five of the paper's 53 images received retouching to remove labels and arrows present in other published versions of the photos, which Bik believed to be a possible conflict with ''Scientific Reports''<nowiki/>' image submission guidelines but was not in itself a disproval of the Tall el-Hammam airburst theory.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bik |first=Elisabeth |author-link=Elisabeth Bik |date=2 October 2021 |title=Blast in the Past: Image concerns in paper about comet that might have destroyed Tall el-Hammam |url=https://scienceintegritydigest.com/2021/10/01/blast-in-the-past-image-concerns-in-paper-about-comet-that-might-have-destroyed-tall-el-hammam/ |access-date=24 November 2021 |website=Science Integrity Digest}}</ref> Subsequent concerns that have been brought up in PubPeer have not yet been addressed by the CRG, including discrepancies between claimed blast wave direction compared to what the images show, unavailability of original image data to independent researchers, lack of supporting evidence for conclusions, inappropriate reliance on ] literature, misinformation about the Tunguska explosion, and another uncorrected example of an inappropriately altered image.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bunch |first1=Ted E. |last2=Lecompte |first2=Malcolm A. |last3=Adedeji |first3=A. Victor |last4=Wittke |first4=James H. |last5=Burleigh |first5=T. David |last6=Hermes |first6=Robert E. |last7=Mooney |first7=Charles |last8=Batchelor |first8=Dale |last9=Wolbach |first9=Wendy S. |last10=Kathan |first10=Joel |last11=Kletetschka |first11=Gunther |last12=Patterson |first12=Mark C. L. |last13=Swindel |first13=Edward C. |last14=Witwer |first14=Timothy |last15=Howard |first15=George A. |date=September 2021 |title=A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea |url=https://pubpeer.com/publications/37B87CAC48DE4BC98AD40E00330143# |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=11 |issue=1 |page=18632 |doi=10.1038/s41598-021-97778-3 |pmc=8452666 |pmid=34545151 |access-date=9 August 2022 |last16=Mitra |first16=Siddhartha |last17=Moore |first17=Christopher R. |last18=Langworthy |first18=Kurt |last19=Kennett |first19=James P. |last20=West |first20=Allen |last21=Silvia |first21=Phillip J.|bibcode=2021NatSR..1118632B }}</ref><!-- Something wrong with this citation, clicking on the title URL goes to PubPeer? Needs correction. --> On February 15, 2023, the following editor’s note was posted on this paper: "Readers are alerted that concerns raised about the data presented and the conclusions of this article are being considered by the Editors. A further editorial response will follow the resolution of these issues."<ref>{{cite web |last=Kincaid |first=Ellie |date=February 21, 2023 |title=Journal investigating Sodom comet paper for data problems |url=https://retractionwatch.com/2023/02/21/journal-investigating-sodom-comet-paper-for-data-problems// |access-date=February 27, 2023 |website=Retraction Watch}}</ref> On August 30, 2023, a paper authored by a CRG member and leading YDIH advocate was retracted by ]. The journal's Retraction Note cited a publication "indicating that the study does not provide data to support the claims of an airburst event or that such an event led to the decline of the Hopewell culture."<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tankersley|first1=K.B. |last2=Meyers|first2=S.D. |last3=Meyers |first3=S.A. |last4=Jordan|first4=J.A. |last5=Herzner|first5=L. |last6=Lentz|first6=D.L. |last7=Zedaker|first7=D. |date=August 2023 |title=Retraction Note: The Hopewell airburst event, 1699–1567 years ago (252–383 CE) |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=13 |issue=1 |page=14201 |doi=10.1038/s41598-023-41237-8 |doi-access=free |pmid=37648734 |pmc=10468503 |bibcode=2023NatSR..1314201T }}</ref>


== Evidence == == Evidence ==
Proponents believe that certain microscopic debris is evidence of impact and that "black mats" of sediment are evidence of widespread fires. They contend that extinction of megafauna was synchronous with associated effects on prehistoric human societies. They say that their observations and interpretations cannot be adequately explained by volcanic, anthropogenic, or other natural processes.<ref name=Bunch/> They argue that there is a synchronous Younger Dryas boundary layer that should be used as a local,<ref>{{Cite Q |Q106891675 |last=Andronikov |first=Alexandre V. |last2=Andronikova |first2=Irina E. |last3=Loehn |first3=Clayton W. |last4=Lafuente |first4=Barbara |last5=Ballenger |first5=Jesse A. M. |last6=Crawford |first6=George T. |last7=Lauretta |first7=Dante S. |author-link7=Dante Lauretta |name-list-style=vanc |quote=The presence of the high number of such microspherules in the sediments can serve as a local stratigraphic marker in identification of the there where dark variety of the black mat is absent.}}</ref> or even global<ref>{{Cite journal |author-link6=Albert Goodyear |author-link10=James P. Kennett |display-authors=8 |vauthors=Moore CR, West A, LeCompte MA, Brooks MJ, Daniel IR, Goodyear AC, Ferguson TA, Ivester AH, Feathers JK, Kennett JP, Tankersley KB, Adedeji AV, Bunch TE |date=March 2017 |title=Widespread platinum anomaly documented at the Younger Dryas onset in North American sedimentary sequences |journal=] |volume=7 |issue=1 |page=44031 |bibcode=2017NatSR...744031M |doi=10.1038/srep44031 |pmc=5343653 |pmid=28276513 |quote=We expect the Pt anomaly to serve as a widely-distributed time marker horizon (datum) for identification and correlation of the onset of the YD climatic episode at 12,800 Cal B.P. This Pt datum will facilitate the dating and correlating of archaeological, paleontological, and paleoenvironmental data between sequences, especially those with limited age control.}}</ref> ]. Archaeologist Stuart J Fiedel has remarked that "The bolide and its effects have been characterized inconsistently from one paper to the next, which makes this hypothesis difficult to refute."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fiedel |first=Stuart J |title=Initial Human Colonization of the Americas, Redux |date=August 2022 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S003382222100103X/type/journal_article |journal=Radiocarbon |language=en |volume=64 |issue=4 |pages=845–897 |doi=10.1017/RDC.2021.103 |bibcode=2022Radcb..64..845F |s2cid=246024355 |issn=0033-8222}}</ref> In 2011, a review of the evidence led researchers to state "The YD impact hypothesis provides a cautionary tale for researchers, the scientific community, the press, and the broader public" as "none of the original YD impact signatures have been subsequently corroborated by independent tests. Of the 12 original lines of evidence, seven have so far proven to be non-reproducible. The remaining signatures instead seem to represent either (1) non-catastrophic mechanisms, and/or (2) terrestrial rather than extraterrestrial or impact-related sources. In all of these cases, sparse but ubiquitous materials seem to have been misreported and misinterpreted as singular peaks at the onset of the YD. Throughout the arc of this hypothesis, recognized and expected impact markers were not found, leading to proposed YD impactors and impact processes that were novel, self-contradictory, rapidly changing, and sometimes defying the laws of physics."<ref name="Pinter et al 2011">{{Cite journal |last1=Pinter |first1=Nicholas |last2=Scott |first2=Andrew C. |last3=Daulton |first3=Tyrone L. |last4=Podoll |first4=Andrew |last5=Koeberl |first5=Christian |last6=Anderson |first6=R. Scott |last7=Ishman |first7=Scott E. |date=2011-06-01 |title=The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis: A requiem |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012825211000262 |journal=Earth-Science Reviews |language=en |volume=106 |issue=3 |pages=247–264 |doi=10.1016/j.earscirev.2011.02.005 |bibcode=2011ESRv..106..247P |issn=0012-8252}}</ref> Additionally, a comprehensive refutation of the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis was published in 2023, stating "There is no support for the basic premise of the YDIH that human populations were diminished, and individual species of late Pleistocene megafauna became extinct or were diminished due to catastrophe."<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|location=Sec 3.2}} Another example is that of extensive wildfires claimed by some YDIH proponents<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wolbach |first1=Wendy S. |last2=Ballard |first2=Joanne P. |last3=Mayewski |first3=Paul A. |last4=Adedeji |first4=Victor |last5=Bunch |first5=Ted E. |last6=Firestone |first6=Richard B. |last7=French |first7=Timothy A. |last8=Howard |first8=George A. |last9=Israde-Alcántara |first9=Isabel |last10=Johnson |first10=John R. |last11=Kimbel |first11=David |last12=Kinzie |first12=Charles R. |last13=Kurbatov |first13=Andrei |last14=Kletetschka |first14=Gunther |last15=LeCompte |first15=Malcolm A. |date=March 2018 |title=Extraordinary Biomass-Burning Episode and Impact Winter Triggered by the Younger Dryas Cosmic Impact ∼12,800 Years Ago. 1. Ice Cores and Glaciers |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/695703 |journal=The Journal of Geology |language=en |volume=126 |issue=2 |pages=165–184 |doi=10.1086/695703 |bibcode=2018JG....126..165W |s2cid=53021110 |issn=0022-1376}}</ref> that has been refuted by experts.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gramling |first=Carolyn |name-list-style=vanc |date=2018-06-26 |title=Why won't this debate about an ancient cold snap die? |url=https://www.sciencenews.org/article/younger-dryas-comet-impact-cold-snap |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210805112551/https://www.sciencenews.org/article/younger-dryas-comet-impact-cold-snap |archive-date=2021-08-05 |access-date=2023-02-23 |work=] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1" />{{Rp|location=Sec. 9}}&nbsp; "Evidence and arguments purported to support the YDIH involve flawed methodologies, inappropriate assumptions, questionable conclusions, misstatements of fact, misleading information, unsupported claims, irreproducible observations, logical fallacies, and selected omission of contrary information."<ref name=":1" />
The evidence claimed for an impact event includes carbon-rich layers of soil that have been found at some 50 Clovis sites across the continent. The proponents report that layers contain unusual materials (], metallic microspherules, carbon spherules, magnetic ]s, ], charcoal, soot, and ]s enriched in ]) that they interpret as evidence of an impact event, at the very bottom of black mats of organic material that they say marks the beginning of the Younger Dryas,<ref name="Dalton">{{cite journal
| first = Rex
| last = Dalton
| title = Archaeology: Blast in the past?
| journal = Nature
| volume = 447
| issue = 7142
| pages = 256–7
| date = 2007-05-17
| pmid = 17507957 |format=PDF
| doi = 10.1038/447256a |url=http://www.geo.arizona.edu/~reiners/blackmat.pdf
|bibcode = 2007Natur.447..256D }} News article in '']''</ref><ref name="Wittke">{{cite journal
| first = James H.
| last = Wittke
| title = Evidence for deposition of 10 million tonnes of impact spherules across four continents 12,800 y ago
| journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
| date = 2013-05-20
| format=PDF
|url=http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/05/17/1301760110.abstract }}</ref> and is claimed that it cannot be explained by volcanic, anthropogenic, and other natural processes.<ref name=Bunch/>


=== Hypothetical impact markers ===
Recent research has been reported that at ] in the central Mexican state of ] evidence supporting a modified version of the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis---involving a much smaller, non-cometary impactor—was found in lake bed cores dating to 12,900&nbsp;BP. The reported evidence included nanodiamonds (including the hexagonal form called lonsdaleite), carbon spherules, and magnetic spherules. Multiple hypotheses were examined to account for these observations, though none were believed to be terrestrial. Lonsdaleite occurs naturally in asteroids and cosmic dust and as a result of extraterrestrial impacts on Earth. The analysis of the study has not been confirmed or repeated by other researchers.<ref name="ISRADE-ALCÁNTARA2012">{{cite journal |author=Israde-Alcántara I, Bischoff JL, Domínguez-Vázquez G, et al. |title=Evidence from central Mexico supporting the Younger Dryas extraterrestrial impact hypothesis |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=109 |issue=13 |pages=E738–47 |date=March 2012 |pmc=3324006|pmid=22392980 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1110614109 |url=|bibcode = 2012PNAS..109E.738I }}</ref> Lonsdaleite has also been made artificially in laboratories.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1063/1.1841236|title=Hexagonal Diamond—A New Form of Carbon|year=1967|author=Bundy, F. P.|journal=Journal of Chemical Physics|volume=46|pages=3437|bibcode = 1967JChPh..46.3437B|issue=9 }}</ref>
Proponents have reported materials including ], metallic microspherules, carbon spherules, magnetic ], ], ], platinum/] ratios, charcoal, soot, and ]s enriched with ] that they interpret as evidence for an impact event that marks the beginning of the Younger Dryas.<ref name="Dalton" /><ref name="Wittke b">{{Cite journal |author-link4=James P. Kennett |author-link6=Andrew M. T. Moore |author-link7=Gordon Hillman |author-link9=Albert Goodyear |display-authors=8 |vauthors=Wittke JH, Weaver JC, Bunch TE, Kennett JP, Kennett DJ, Moore AM, Hillman GC, Tankersley KB, Goodyear AC, Moore CR, Daniel IR, Ray JH, Lopinot NH, Ferraro D, Israde-Alcántara I, Bischoff JL, DeCarli PS, Hermes RE, Kloosterman JB, Revay Z, Howard GA, Kimbel DR, Kletetschka G, Nabelek L, Lipo CP, Sakai S, West A, Firestone RB |date=June 2013 |title=Evidence for deposition of 10 million tonnes of impact spherules across four continents 12,800 y ago |journal=] |volume=110 |issue=23 |pages=E2088–97 |bibcode=2013PNAS..110E2088W |doi=10.1073/pnas.1301760110 |pmc=3677428 |pmid=23690611 |doi-access=free}}</ref> One of the most widely publicized discoveries (nanodiamonds in Greenland) has never been verified and is disputed.<ref name="Kurbatov Mayewski Steffensen West 2022">{{cite web |last1=Kurbatov |first1=Andrei V. |last2=Mayewski |first2=Paul A. |last3=Steffensen |first3=Jorgen P. |last4=West |first4=Allen |last5=Kennett |first5=Douglas J. |last6=Kennett |first6=James P. |last7=Bunch |first7=Ted E. |last8=Handley |first8=Mike |last9=Introne |first9=Douglas S. |date=2022-09-20 |title=Discovery of a nanodiamond-rich layer in the Greenland ice sheet |url=https://pubpeer.com/publications/28B83ADB820618B3F374667D5FBB92 |access-date=2022-09-28 |website=PubPeer |last10=Hee |first10=Shane S. Que |last11=Mercer |first11=Christopher |last12=Sellers |first12=Marilee |last13=Shen |first13=Feng |last14=Sneed |first14=Sharon B. |last15=Weaver |first15=James C. |last16=Wittke |first16=James H. |last17=Stafford |first17=Thomas W. |last18=Donovan |first18=John J. |last19=Xie |first19=Sujing |last20=Razink |first20=Joshua J. |last21=Stich |first21=Adrienne |last22=Kinzie |first22=Charles R. |last23=Wolbach |first23=Wendy S.}}</ref>


Some scientists have asserted that the carbon spherules originated as fungal structures and/or insect fecal pellets, and contained modern contaminants<ref name="Boslough" /><ref name="spherules">{{Cite web |last=Roach |first=John |name-list-style=vanc |date=22 June 2010 |title=Fungi, Feces Show Comet Didn't Kill Ice Age Mammals? |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/100622-science-environment-wildfires-cooling-ice-age-extinctions |url-access=limited |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717200455/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/100622-science-environment-wildfires-cooling-ice-age-extinctions |archive-date=17 July 2021 |access-date=17 July 2021 |website=]}}</ref> and that the claimed nanodiamonds are actually misidentified ] and graphene/] oxide aggregates.<ref name="Daulton">{{Cite journal |author-link3=Andrew Cunningham Scott |vauthors=Daulton TL, Pinter N, Scott AC |date=September 2010 |title=No evidence of nanodiamonds in Younger-Dryas sediments to support an impact event |journal=] |volume=107 |issue=37 |pages=16043–7 |bibcode=2010PNAS..10716043D |doi=10.1073/pnas.1003904107 |pmc=2941276 |pmid=20805511 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Kerr2">{{Cite web |last=Kerr |first=Richard A. |author-link=Richard Kerr (science journalist) |name-list-style=vanc |date=30 October 2010 |title=Mammoth-Killer Impact Rejected |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/mammoth-killer-impact-rejected |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917181633/http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2010/08/mammoth-killer-impact-rejected |archive-date=17 September 2018 |access-date=17 September 2018 |website=Science NOW |publisher=]}}</ref> A patent application by Allen West and James Kennett in 2009 for methods of forming nanodiamonds based on research in support of the impact hypothesis also likely misidentified ] and ]s and appears to have since been abandoned.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|location=Sec. 12.5}} Iridium, magnetic minerals, microspherules, carbon, and nanodiamonds are all subject to differing interpretations as to their nature and origin, and may be explained in many cases by purely terrestrial or non-catastrophic factors.<ref name="PinterandIshman2008">{{Cite journal |vauthors=Pinter N, Ishman SE |year=2008 |title=Impacts, mega-tsunami, and other extraordinary claims |journal=] |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=37–38 |doi=10.1130/GSAT01801GW.1 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2008GSAT...18a..37P }}</ref><ref name="No love">{{Cite web |date=23 April 2012 |title=No Love for Comet Wipeout |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/no-love-comet-wipeout |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917181709/http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2012/04/no-love-comet-wipeout |archive-date=17 September 2018 |access-date=17 September 2018 |publisher=] |vauthors=Perkins S}}</ref> An analysis of a similar Younger Dryas boundary layer in Belgium yielded carbon crystalline structures such as nanodiamonds, but the authors concluded that they also did not show unique evidence for a bolide impact.<ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Tian H, Schryvers D, Claeys P |date=January 2011 |title=Nanodiamonds do not provide unique evidence for a Younger Dryas impact |journal=] |volume=108 |issue=1 |pages=40–4 |bibcode=2011PNAS..108...40T |doi=10.1073/pnas.1007695108 |pmc=3017148 |pmid=21173270 |doi-access=free}}</ref> An independent group of researchers reported much lower concentrations of ] metals in the purported boundary layer (by a factor of 30 for iridium).{{efn|One of the authors of this study, Matthew Boyd,<ref name="Absence of geochemical evidence" /> later published a paper that argued in favour of the impact hypothesis.<ref>{{Cite Q |Q106863462 |last1=Teller |first1=James |last2=Boyd |first2=Matthew |last3=LeCompte |first3=Malcolm |last4=Kennett |first4=James P. |author-link4=James P. Kennett |last5=West |first5=Allen |last6=Telka |first6=Alice |last7=Diaz |first7=Aura |last8=Adedeji |first8=Victor |last9=Batchelor |first9=Dale |last10=Mooney |first10=Charles |last11=Garcia |first11=Roberto |display-authors=8 |name-list-style=vanc |quote=We propose that this massive hydrological reorganization resulted from a cosmic impact event at the YD boundary.}}</ref>}}<ref name="Absence of geochemical evidence">{{Cite journal |author-link7=Vance T. Holliday |author-link8=Vance Haynes |display-authors=8 |vauthors=Paquay FS, Goderis S, Ravizza G, Vanhaeck F, Boyd M, Surovell TA, Holliday VT, Haynes CV, Claeys P |date=December 2009 |title=Absence of geochemical evidence for an impact event at the Bølling-Allerød/Younger Dryas transition |journal=] |volume=106 |issue=51 |pages=21505–10 |bibcode=2009PNAS..10621505P |doi=10.1073/pnas.0908874106 |pmc=2799824 |pmid=20007789 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Paquay FS, Goderis S, Ravizza G, Claeys P |date=December 2009 |title=Reply to Bunch et al.: Younger Dryas impact proponents challenge new platinum group elements and osmium data unsupportive of their hypothesis |journal=] |volume=107 |issue=51 |pages=E59–E60 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1001828107 |doi-access=free|pmc=2872459 }}</ref> The original authors argued that these concentrations were still >300% (a factor of 3) above background in 2 of their samples.<ref name="Geochemical data do not refute">{{Cite journal |display-authors=8 |vauthors=Bunch, TE, West, A, Firestone, RB, Kennett, JP, Wittke, JH, Kinzie, CR, Wolbach, WS |date=April 2010 |title=Geochemical data reported by Paquay et al. do not refute Younger Dryas impact event |journal=] |volume=107 |issue=15 |pages=E58; author repliy E59-60 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1001156107 |pmid=20388907 |pmc=2872453 |bibcode=2010PNAS..107E..58B |doi-access=free}}</ref> Another group was unable to confirm prior claims of magnetic particles and microspherules in 2009.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |author-link2=Vance T. Holliday |author-link5=Vance Haynes |display-authors=8 |vauthors=Surovell TA, Holliday VT, Gingerich JA, Ketron C, Haynes CV, Hilman I, Wagner DP, Johnson E, Claeys P |date=October 2009 |title=An independent evaluation of the Younger Dryas extraterrestrial impact hypothesis |journal=] |volume=106 |issue=43 |pages=18155–8 |bibcode=2009PNAS..10618155S |doi=10.1073/pnas.0907857106 |pmc=2775309 |pmid=19822748 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Other studies involving YDIH proponents found concentrations of magnetic spherules but not all were associated with the YDB and not all were attributed to an ET event.<ref>{{Cite journal |display-authors=1 |vauthors=Haynes, CV |date=October 2010 |title=The Murray Springs Clovis site, Pleistocene extinction, and the question of extraterrestrial impact |journal=] |volume=107 |issue=9 |pages=4010–5 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0908191107 |pmid=20160115 |pmc=2840150 |bibcode=2010PNAS..107.4010H |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |display-authors=7 |vauthors=LeCompte MA, Goodyear AC, Demitroff MN, Batchelor D, Vogel EK, Mooney C, Rock BN, Siedel AW |date=October 2012 |title=Independent evaluation of conflicting microspherule results from different investigations of the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis |journal=] |volume=109 |issue=44 |pages=E2960-9 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1208603109 |pmid=22988071 |pmc=3497834 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="10.1111_geoa.12122">{{cite journal |last1=Andronikov |first1=Alexandre V. |last2=Andronikova |first2=Irina E. |last3=Loehn |first3=Clayton W. |last4=Lafuente |first4=Barbara |last5=Ballenger |first5=Jesse A. M. |last6=Crawford |first6=George T. |last7=Lauretta |first7=Dante S. |author-link7=Dante Lauretta |date=2016 |title=Implications from chemical, structural and mineralogical studies of magnetic microspherules from around the lower younger dryas boundary (New Mexico, USA) |journal=Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography |language=en |volume=98 |issue=1 |pages=39–59 |doi=10.1111/geoa.12122 |bibcode=2016GeAnA..98...39A |s2cid=56032364 |name-list-style=vanc}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |display-authors=8 |vauthors=Kletetschka G, Vondrak D, Hruba J, Prochazka V, Nabelek L, Svitavska-Svoboda H, Bobek P, Horicka Z, Kadlec J, Takac M, Stuchlik E |date=October 2018 |title=Cosmic-impact event in lake sediments from central Europe postdates the Laacher See Eruption and marks onset of the Younger Dryas |journal=The Journal of Geology |volume=126 |issue=6 |pages=561–575 |doi=10.1086/699869 |bibcode=2018JG....126..561K |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |display-authors=8 |vauthors=Teller J, Boyd M, LeCompte MA, Kennett JP, West A, Telka A, Diaz A, Adedeji V, Batchelor D, Mooney C, Garcia R |date=October 2019 |title=A multi-proxy study of changing environmental conditions in a Younger Dryas sequence in southwestern Manitoba, Canada, and evidence for an extraterrestrial event |journal=Quaternary Research |volume=93 |pages=60–87 |doi=10.1017/qua.2019.46|s2cid=210614208 }}</ref>
Researchers have criticized the conclusions of various studies for incorrect age-dating of the sediments,<ref>{{cite journal |author=Blaauw M, Holliday VT, Gill JL, Nicoll K |title=Age models and the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis |journal=Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A |volume= 109|issue= 34|pages= E2240; author reply E2245–7|date=July 2012 |pmid=22829673 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1206143109 |url=|bibcode = 2012PNAS..109E2240B |pmc=3427088}}</ref> contamination by modern carbon, and inconsistent hypothesis that made it difficult to predict the type and size of bolide,<ref>{{cite journal |author=Boslough M |title=Inconsistent impact hypotheses for the Younger Dryas |journal=Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A |volume= 109|issue= 34|pages= E2241; author reply E2245–7|date=July 2012 |pmid=22829675 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1206739109 |url=|bibcode = 2012PNAS..109E2241B |pmc=3427067}}</ref> lack of proper identification of lonsdaleite,<ref>{{cite journal |author=Daulton TL |title=Suspect cubic diamond "impact" proxy and a suspect lonsdaleite identification |journal=Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A |volume= 109|issue= 34|pages= E2242; author reply E2245–7|date=July 2012 |pmid=22829671 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1206253109 |url=|bibcode = 2012PNAS..109E2242D |pmc=3427052}}</ref> confusing an extraterrestrial impact with other causes such as fire,<ref>{{cite journal |author=Gill JL, Blois JL, Goring S, et al. |title=Paleoecological changes at Lake Cuitzeo were not consistent with an extraterrestrial impact |journal=Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A |volume= 109|issue= 34|pages= E2243; author reply E2245–7|date=July 2012 |pmid=22829674 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1206196109 |url=|bibcode = 2012PNAS..109E2243G |pmc=3427112}}</ref> and for inconsistent use of the carbon spherule "proxy".<ref>{{cite journal |author=Hardiman M, Scott AC, Collinson ME, Anderson RS |title=Inconsistent redefining of the carbon spherule "impact" proxy |journal=Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A |volume= 109|issue= 34|pages= E2244; author reply E2245–7|date=July 2012 |pmid=22829672 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1206108109 |url=|bibcode = 2012PNAS..109E2244H |pmc=3427080}}</ref> Naturally occurring lonsdaleite has also been identified in non-bolide diamond ]s in the ].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Kaminskii, F.V., G.K. Blinova, E.M. Galimov, G.A. Gurkina, Y.A. Klyuev, L.A. Kodina, V.I. Koptil, V.F. Krivonos, L.N. Frolova, and A.Y. Khrenov|year=1985|title=Polycrystalline aggregates of diamond with lonsdaleite from Yakutian placers|journal=Mineral. Zhurnal|volume=7|pages=27–36}}</ref>
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* A list of news articles about the YDIH featuring Mark Boslough can be generated from Wikidata with this query: https://w.wiki/4cK$
* A list of news articles about the YDIH that also talk about airbursts can be generated from Wikidata with this query: https://w.wiki/4cQ9
* The Scholia profile (which also utilises Wikidata) is really useful here as well: https://scholia.toolforge.org/topic/Q1092095
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=== "Black mats" ===
A 100-fold spike in the concentration of platinum has also been found in Greenland ice cores, dated to 12890 BP with 5 year accuracy. The source of the platinum has not yet been identified, but the researchers ruled out either earth's mantle or stony meteorites (]). The researchers said the source could be from an iron-rich impactor that probably would have left a crater of "few kilometers" in diameter, but none has so far been identified.<ref>{{cite news | title=Ice core data supports ancient space impact idea | author=Simon Redfern | date=2013-08-01 | publisher=BBC | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23536567}}</ref><ref name="Petaev">{{cite journal |author=Michail I. Petaev, Shichun Huang, Stein B. Jacobsen, Alan Zindler |title=Large Pt anomaly in the Greenland ice core points to a cataclysm at the onset of Younger Dryas |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |year=2013 }}</ref>
The evidence given by proponents of a ] or ] impact event includes "black mats", or ] of organic-rich ] that have been identified at about 50 ]s across North America.{{efn|name=Black mat note|The darkened ] was first identified at the ] by ] who named it "Lehner swamp soil";<ref>{{Cite Q |Q59224169 |author-link1=Emil Haury |last=Haury |first=Emil W. |last2=Sayles |first2=E. B. |last3=Wasley |first3=William W. |name-list-style=vanc}}</ref> it was later renamed by ] as the "black mat".<ref>{{Cite web |title= Paleoindian Studies and Geoarchaeology at the University of Arizona |url=http://www.argonaut.arizona.edu/history.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180723064120/http://www.argonaut.arizona.edu/history.htm |archive-date=2018-07-23 |website=] |quote=Vance Haynes later renamed it the 'black mat'}}</ref><ref name="PNAS07A" />}} Using statistical analysis and modeling, ] and others concluded that widely separated organic-rich layers, including ''black mats'', were deposited synchronously across multiple continents as an identifiable ''Younger Dryas boundary layer''.<ref>{{Cite Q|Q35718070|last1=Kennett|first1=James P|last2=Kennett|first2=Douglas J|last3=Culleton|first3=Brendan J|last4=Tortosa|first4=J Emili Aura|last5=Bischoff|first5=James L|last6=Bunch|first6=Ted E|last7=Daniel|first7=I Randolph|last8=Erlandson|first8=Jon M|last9=Ferraro|first9=David|last10=Firestone|first10=Richard B|last11=Goodyear|first11=Albert C|last12=Israde-Alcántara|first12=Isabel|last13=Johnson|first13=John R|last14=Pardo|first14=Jesús F Jordá|last15=Kimbel|first15=David R|last16=LeCompte|first16=Malcolm A|last17=Lopinot|first17=Neal H|last18=Mahaney|first18=William C|last19=Moore|first19=Andrew M T|last20=Moore|first20=Christopher R|last21=Ray|first21=Jack H|last22=Stafford|first22=Thomas W|last23=Tankersley|first23=Kenneth Barnett|last24=Wittke|first24=James H|last25=Wolbach|first25=Wendy S|last26=West|first26=Allen|author-link1=James P. Kennett|author-link8=Jon M. Erlandson|author-link11=Albert Goodyear|author-link19=Andrew M. T. Moore|display-authors=8|name-list-style=vanc}}</ref> In 2019, Jorgeson and others tested this conclusion with the simulation of radiocarbon ages.<ref name="JorgesonOthers2020a">{{Cite journal |last1=Jorgeson |first1=Ian A. |last2=Breslawski |first2=Ryan P. |last3=Fisher |first3=Abigail E. |name-list-style=vanc |date=13 February 2020 |title=Radiocarbon simulation fails to support the temporal synchroneity requirement of the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/quaternary-research/article/abs/radiocarbon-simulation-fails-to-support-the-temporal-synchroneity-requirement-of-the-younger-dryas-impact-hypothesis/6478BF9FD2E63B22C6152075E1B5C089 |url-status=live |journal=] |volume=96 |pages=123–139 |bibcode=2020QuRes..96..123J |doi=10.1017/qua.2019.83 |issn=1096-0287 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210620182032/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/quaternary-research/article/abs/radiocarbon-simulation-fails-to-support-the-temporal-synchroneity-requirement-of-the-younger-dryas-impact-hypothesis/6478BF9FD2E63B22C6152075E1B5C089 |archive-date=20 June 2021 |s2cid=213657406}}</ref> They accounted for measurement error, calibration uncertainty, ], and laboratory measurement biases, and compared against the dataset of radiocarbon ages for the ] eruption. They found the Laacher See 14C dataset to be consistent with expectations of synchroneity. They found the Younger Dryas boundary layer 14C dataset to be inconsistent with the expectations for its synchroneity, and the synchronous global deposition of the hypothesized Younger Dryas boundary layer to be extremely unlikely.<ref name="JorgesonOthers2020a" />


Marlon et al. suggest that wildfires were a consequence of rapid climate change.<ref name="Marlonetal2009">{{Cite journal |display-authors=8 |vauthors=Marlon JR, Bartlein PJ, Walsh MK, Harrison SP, Brown KJ, Edwards ME, Higuera PE, Power MJ, Anderson RS, Briles C, Brunelle A, Carcaillet C, Daniels M, Hu FS, Lavoie M, Long C, Minckley T, Richard PJ, Scott AC, Shafer DS, Tinner W, Umbanhowar CE, Whitlock C |date=February 2009 |title=Wildfire responses to abrupt climate change in North America |journal=] |volume=106 |issue=8 |pages=2519–24 |bibcode=2009PNAS..106.2519M |doi=10.1073/pnas.0808212106 |pmc=2650296 |pmid=19190185 |quote=...the charcoal data indicate an important role for climate, and particularly rapid climate change, in determining broad-scale levels of fire activity. |doi-access=free |author-link19=Andrew Cunningham Scott |author-link23=Cathy Whitlock}}</ref> "The changes in woody biomass, fire frequency, and biomass burning are not coincident with changes in CO2, although increasing CO2 may have contributed to woody biomass production during the early part of the Bølling–Allerød. Clovis people appeared in North America between 13.4 and 12.8 ka, broadly coincident with the sharp increase in biomass burning at 13.2 ka, and then rapidly spread out across the continent."
==Consequences of hypothetical impact==


], ] of paleobotanical samples, and ] of fluvial sediments in Arlington Canyon on ] by another group found no evidence of lonsdaleite or impact-induced fires.<ref name="Scott_2017">{{Cite journal |author-link=Andrew Cunningham Scott |vauthors=Scott AC, Hardiman M, Pinter N, Anderson RS, Daulton TL, Ejarque A, Finch P, Carter-champion A |year=2017 |title=Interpreting palaeofire evidence from fluvial sediments: a case study from Santa Rosa Island, California, with implications for the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis |url=https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/interpreting-palaeofire-evidence-from-fluvial-sediments(f8638df6-4a41-4fa7-b26f-c337e91253b1).html |url-status=live |journal=] |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=35–47 |bibcode=2017JQS....32...35S |doi=10.1002/jqs.2914 |issn=0267-8179 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200205000628/https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/interpreting-palaeofire-evidence-from-fluvial-sediments(f8638df6-4a41-4fa7-b26f-c337e91253b1).html |archive-date=5 February 2020 |access-date=5 February 2020 |s2cid=46954364}}</ref> Research published in 2012 has shown that the so-called "black mats" are easily explained by typical earth processes in wetland environments.{{efn|name=Pigati note|Pigati has noted that his 2012 paper{{hair space}}<ref name="Pigati" /> does not disprove the impact hypothesis.<ref name="No love" />}}<ref name="Pigati">{{Cite journal |vauthors=Pigati JS, Latorre C, Rech JA, Betancourt JL, Martínez KE, Budahn JR |date=May 2012 |title=Accumulation of impact markers in desert wetlands and implications for the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis |journal=] |volume=109 |issue=19 |pages=7208–12 |bibcode=2012PNAS..109.7208P |doi=10.1073/pnas.1200296109 |pmc=3358914 |pmid=22529347 |doi-access=free}}</ref> This study of black mats, that are common in prehistorical wetland deposits which represent shallow marshlands, that were from 6000 to 40,000 years ago in the southwestern USA and Atacama Desert in Chile, showed elevated concentrations of iridium and magnetic sediments, magnetic spherules and titanomagnetite grains. It was suggested that because these markers are found within or at the base of black mats, irrespective of age or location, they likely arise from processes common to arid-climate wetland systems and not as a result of catastrophic bolide impacts.{{efn|name=Pigati note}}<ref name="Pigati" />
It is conjectured that this impact event brought about the extinction of many North American ]. These animals included ]s, ]s, the ] and numerous other species that the proponents suggest died at this time.<ref name=Haynes>{{cite journal|last=Haynes|first=G|title=The catastrophic extinction of North American mammoths and mastodonts|journal=World Archeology|date=5 November 2010|volume=33|issue=3|pages=391–416|doi=10.1080/00438240120107440}}</ref> The proposed markers for the impact event are claimed to appear at the end of the ].<ref name=Carrasco>{{cite journal|author=Carrasco MA, Barnosky AD, Graham RW|year=2009|title=Quantifying the Extent of North American Mammal Extinction Relative to the Pre-Anthropogenic Baseline|journal=PLoS ONE|volume=4|issue=12|page=e8331|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0008331|bibcode = 2009PLoSO...4.8331C }}</ref> However, many megafauna survived that time period, which would not be possible with a massive bolide extinction event.<ref name="Pinter"/>


Researchers have also criticized the conclusions of various studies for incorrect age-dating of the sediments,<ref>{{Cite journal |author-link2=Vance T. Holliday |author-link3=Jacquelyn Gill |vauthors=Blaauw M, Holliday VT, Gill JL, Nicoll K |date=August 2012 |title=Age models and the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis |journal=] |volume=109 |issue=34 |pages=E2240; author reply E2245–7 |bibcode=2012PNAS..109E2240B |doi=10.1073/pnas.1206143109 |pmc=3427088 |pmid=22829673 |doi-access=free}}</ref> contamination by modern carbon, inconsistent hypothesis that made it difficult to predict the type and size of bolide,<ref>{{Cite journal |author-link=Mark Boslough |vauthors=Boslough M |date=August 2012 |title=Inconsistent impact hypotheses for the Younger Dryas |journal=] |volume=109 |issue=34 |pages=E2241; author reply E2245–7 |bibcode=2012PNAS..109E2241B |doi=10.1073/pnas.1206739109 |pmc=3427067 |pmid=22829675 |doi-access=free}}</ref> lack of proper identification of lonsdaleite,<ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Daulton TL |date=August 2012 |title=Suspect cubic diamond "impact" proxy and a suspect lonsdaleite identification |journal=] |volume=109 |issue=34 |pages=E2242; author reply E2245–7 |bibcode=2012PNAS..109E2242D |doi=10.1073/pnas.1206253109 |pmc=3427052 |pmid=22829671 |doi-access=free}}</ref> confusing an extraterrestrial impact with other causes such as fire,<ref>{{Cite journal |author-link=Jacquelyn Gill |author-link2=Jessica L. Blois |author-link7=Andrew Cunningham Scott |author-link8=Cathy Whitlock |vauthors=Gill JL, Blois JL, Goring S, Marlon JR, Bartlein PJ, Nicoll K, Scott AC, Whitlock C |date=August 2012 |title=Paleoecological changes at Lake Cuitzeo were not consistent with an extraterrestrial impact |journal=] |volume=109 |issue=34 |pages=E2243; author reply E2245–7 |bibcode=2012PNAS..109E2243G |doi=10.1073/pnas.1206196109 |pmc=3427112 |pmid=22829674 |doi-access=free}}</ref> and for inconsistent use of the carbon spherule "proxy".<ref>{{Cite journal |author-link2=Andrew Cunningham Scott |author-link3=Margaret Collinson |vauthors=Hardiman M, Scott AC, Collinson ME, Anderson RS |date=August 2012 |title=Inconsistent redefining of the carbon spherule "impact" proxy |journal=] |volume=109 |issue=34 |pages=E2244; author reply E2245–7 |bibcode=2012PNAS..109E2244H |doi=10.1073/pnas.1206108109 |pmc=3427080 |pmid=22829672 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Naturally occurring lonsdaleite has also been identified in non-bolide diamond ]s in the ].<ref name="Kaminskii" />
==History of the hypothesis==
]]]
The initial description of this hypothesis was published in a 2006 book.<ref name="Firestone2006"/> The following year, a paper with the same principal authors suggested that the impact event may have led to an immediate decline in human populations in North America at that time.<ref name="PNAS07A">{{cite journal |author=Firestone RB, West A, Kennett JP, et al. |title=Evidence for an extraterrestrial impact 12,900 years ago that contributed to the megafaunal extinctions and the Younger Dryas cooling |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=104 |issue=41 |pages=16016–21 |date=October 2007 |pmid=17901202 |pmc=1994902 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0706977104 |url=|bibcode = 2007PNAS..10416016F }}</ref>


=== Extinction of megafauna ===
Additional data purported to support the synchronous nature of the black mats was published. The authors stated that the data required further analysis, and independent analysis of other Clovis sites for verification of this evidence. The authors stated that they remained skeptical of the bolide impact hypothesis as the cause of the Younger Dryas and the megafaunal extinction. They also concluded that "...something major happened at 10,900 B.P. (<sup>14</sup>C uncalibrated) that we have yet to understand."<ref>{{cite journal |author=Haynes CV |title=Younger Dryas "black mats" and the Rancholabrean termination in North America |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=105 |issue=18 |pages=6520–5 |date=May 2008 |pmid=18436643 |pmc=2373324 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0800560105 |url=|bibcode = 2008PNAS..105.6520H }}</ref>
There is evidence that the megafaunal extinctions that occurred across northern Eurasia, North America, and South America at the end of the ] were not synchronous. The extinctions in South America appear to have occurred at least 400 years after the extinctions in North America.<ref name="Haynes">{{Cite book |last=Haynes |first=Gary |title=American Megafaunal Extinctions at the End of the Pleistocene |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4020-8792-9 |series=Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology |pages=1–20 |chapter=Introduction to the Volume |doi=10.1007/978-1-4020-8793-6_1 |name-list-style=vanc}}</ref><ref name="Fiedel">{{Cite book |last=Fiedel |first=Stuart |title=American Megafaunal Extinctions at the End of the Pleistocene |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4020-8792-9 |series=Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology |pages=21–37 |chapter=Sudden Deaths: The Chronology of Terminal Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinction |doi=10.1007/978-1-4020-8793-6_2 |name-list-style=vanc}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Hubbe A, Hubbe M, Neves W |date=September 2007 |title=Early Holocene survival of megafauna in South America |journal=] |volume=34 |issue=9 |pages=1642–1646 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2699.2007.01744.x |doi-access=free|bibcode=2007JBiog..34.1642H }}</ref> The extinction of ]s in ] also appears to have occurred later than in North America.<ref name="Haynes" /> A greater disparity in extinction timings is apparent in island megafaunal extinctions that lagged nearby continental extinctions by thousands of years; examples include the survival of woolly mammoths on ], Russia, until 3700&nbsp;BP,<ref name="Haynes" /><ref name="Fiedel" /><ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Stuart AJ, Kosintsev PA, Higham TF, Lister AM |date=October 2004 |title=Pleistocene to Holocene extinction dynamics in giant deer and woolly mammoth |journal=] |volume=431 |issue=7009 |pages=684–9 |bibcode=2004Natur.431..684S |doi=10.1038/nature02890 |pmid=15470427 |s2cid=4415073|url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/13494/files/PAL_E274.pdf }}</ref> and the survival of ] in the ],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Martin |first=Paul |title=Twilight of the mammoths: ice age extinctions and the rewilding of America |publisher=] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-520-23141-2 |location=Berkeley |chapter=4 Ground Sloths at Home Cryptozoology, Ground Sloths, and Mapinguari National Park |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/twilightofmammot00paul |name-list-style=vanc}}</ref> the ], until 4700 cal&nbsp;BP.<ref name="Haynes" /> The Australian megafaunal extinctions occurred approximately 30,000 years earlier than the hypothetical Younger Dryas event.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Barnosky |first=Anthony D. |name-list-style=vanc |date=12 August 2008 |title=Colloquium paper: Megafauna biomass tradeoff as a driver of Quaternary and future extinctions |url=https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/105/Supplement_1/11543.full.pdf |url-status=live |journal=] |volume=105 |issue=Supplement 1 |pages=11543–11548 |bibcode=2008PNAS..10511543B |doi=10.1073/pnas.0801918105 |pmc=2556404 |pmid=18695222 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210619151410/https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/105/Supplement_1/11543.full.pdf |archive-date=2021-06-19 |access-date=2021-07-06 |doi-access=free}}</ref>


The megafaunal extinction pattern observed in North America poses a problem for the bolide impact scenario since it raises the question of why large mammals should be preferentially exterminated over small mammals or other vertebrates.<ref name="Scott2010">{{Cite journal |vauthors=Scott E |year=2010 |title=Extinctions, scenarios, and assumptions: Changes in latest Pleistocene large herbivore abundance and distribution in western North America |journal=] |volume=217 |issue=1–2 |pages=225–239 |bibcode=2010QuInt.217..225S |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2009.11.003}}</ref> Additionally, some extant megafaunal species such as ] and ] seem to have been little affected by the extinction event, while the environmental devastation caused by a bolide impact would not be expected to discriminate.<ref name="Haynes" /> Also, it appears that there was a collapse in North American megafaunal population from 14,800 to 13,700&nbsp;BP, well before the date of the hypothetical extraterrestrial impact,<ref>{{Cite journal |author-link=Jacquelyn Gill |vauthors=Gill JL, Williams JW, Jackson ST, Lininger KB, Robinson GS |date=November 2009 |title=Pleistocene megafaunal collapse, novel plant communities, and enhanced fire regimes in North America |url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/210391/files/PAL_E4398.pdf |url-status=live |journal=] |volume=326 |issue=5956 |pages=1100–3 |bibcode=2009Sci...326.1100G |doi=10.1126/science.1179504 |pmid=19965426 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922021056/http://doc.rero.ch/record/210391/files/PAL_E4398.pdf |archive-date=22 September 2017 |access-date=14 January 2019 |s2cid=206522597}}</ref> possibly from anthropogenic activities, including hunting.<ref name="Carrasco">{{Cite journal |vauthors=Carrasco MA, Barnosky AD, Graham RW |date=December 2009 |title=Quantifying the extent of North American mammal extinction relative to the pre-anthropogenic baseline |journal=] |volume=4 |issue=12 |pages=e8331 |bibcode=2009PLoSO...4.8331C |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0008331 |pmc=2789409 |pmid=20016820 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
] evidence purported to show nanodiamonds from a layer assumed to correspond to the geologic moment of the event was published in the journal ''Science''.<ref name="Kerr">{{cite journal |last=Kerr |first=Richard A. |date=2009-1 |title=Did the Mammoth Slayer Leave a Diamond Calling Card? |journal=Science |pmid=19119192 |volume=323 |issue=5910 |pages=26 |doi= 10.1126/science.323.5910.26 |url=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/323/5910/26}}</ref> Also, in the same issue, D.J. Kennett reported that the nano-diamonds were evidence for bolide impacts from a rare swarm of carbonaceous ]s or ]s at the start of Younger Dryas, resulting from multiple airbursts and surface impacts. This resulted in substantial loss of plant life, megafauna, and other animals.<ref name="Kennett">{{cite journal |author=Kennett DJ, Kennett JP, West A, et al. |title=Nanodiamonds in the Younger Dryas boundary sediment layer |journal=Science |volume=323 |issue=5910 |pages=94 |date=January 2009 |pmid=19119227 |doi=10.1126/science.1162819 |url=|bibcode = 2009Sci...323...94K }}</ref> This study has been strenuously disputed by mainstream scientists for a variety of technical and professional reasons. Scientific skepticism increased with the revelation of documentation demonstrating misconduct and past criminal conduct (conviction for fraud and misrepresentation of credentials) by the researcher who prepared samples for the proponents of the hypothesis.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.miller-mccune.com/science/comet-claim-comes-crashing-to-earth-31180/ |title=Comet Theory Comes Crashing to Earth|publisher=Miller-McCune|author=Dalton R|year=2011 |format= |work= |accessdate=2012-04-15}}</ref>


A group in the Netherlands examined carbon-14 dates for charcoal particles that showed wildfires occurred well after the proposed impact date, and the glass-like carbon was produced by wildfires and no lonsdaleite was found.<ref name="vanhoesel">{{Cite journal |vauthors=van Hoesel A, Hoek WZ, Braadbaart F, van der Plicht J, Pennock GM, Drury MR |date=May 2012 |title=Nanodiamonds and wildfire evidence in the Usselo horizon postdate the Allerod-Younger Dryas boundary |journal=] |volume=109 |issue=20 |pages=7648–53 |bibcode=2012PNAS..109.7648V |doi=10.1073/pnas.1120950109 |pmc=3356666 |pmid=22547791 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Research at the ] in Chile showed that silicate surface glasses were formed during at least two distinct periods at the end of the Pleistocene, separated by several hundred years.<ref name="RoperchGattacceca2017">{{Cite journal |author-link3=Millarca Valenzuela |display-authors=8 |vauthors=Roperch P, Gattacceca J, Valenzuela M, Devouard B, Lorand JP, Arriagada C, Rochette P, Latorre C, Beck P |year=2017 |title=Surface vitrification caused by natural fires in Late Pleistocene wetlands of the Atacama Desert |url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02889687 |url-status=live |journal=] |volume=469 |pages=15–26 |bibcode=2017E&PSL.469...15R |doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2017.04.009 |issn=0012-821X |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417234613/https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02889687 |archive-date=17 April 2021 |access-date=1 September 2020 |s2cid=55581133}}</ref>{{Update inline|reason=Further research has shown that this glass was formed by impacts — Schultz et al., 2021, Widespread glasses generated by cometary fireballs during the late Pleistocene in the Atacama Desert, Chile<!--Q109378713-->|date=December 2021}}
The disputing scientists claim that the study's conclusions could not be repeated, that further research suggests that no nanodiamonds were found,<ref name = "Daulton"/> and that the supposed carbon spherules were, in fact, either fungus or insect feces and included modern contaminants.<ref name = "Boslough"/><ref name = "spherules"/>


=== Impact on human societies ===
A re-evaluation published by the original proponents in June 2013 of spherules from 18 sites worldwide is seen by them as supporting their hypothesis.<ref name = "Wittke">{{cite journal |last=Wittke, "et al." |title=Evidence for deposition of 10 million tonnes of impact spherules across four continents 12,800 y ago |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |date=June 2013 |volume 110| issue=23 |pages=E2088-E2097| doi: 10.1073/pnas.1301760110 |url=http://www.pnas.org/content/110/23/E2088.short }}</ref>
A study of ] demography found no evidence of a population decline among the Paleoindians at 12,900&nbsp;±&nbsp;100&nbsp;BP, which was inconsistent with predictions of an impact event,<ref name="Holliday">{{Cite journal |author-link=Vance T. Holliday |author-link2=David J. Meltzer |vauthors=Holliday VT, Meltzer DJ |date=October 2010 |title=The 12.9-ka ET Impact Hypothesis and North American Paleoindians |journal=] |volume=51 |issue=5 |pages=575–606 |doi=10.1086/656015 |s2cid=17823479}}</ref> suggesting that the hypothesis would probably need to be revised.<ref name="Buchanan">{{Cite journal |vauthors=Buchanan B, Collard M, Edinborough K |date=August 2008 |title=Paleoindian demography and the extraterrestrial impact hypothesis |journal=] |volume=105 |issue=33 |pages=11651–4 |bibcode=2008PNAS..10511651B |doi=10.1073/pnas.0803762105 |pmc=2575318 |pmid=18697936 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Haynes |first=Gary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iq6qZXUkWo0C&pg=PA125 |title=American megafaunal extinctions at the end of the Pleistocene |publisher=] |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4020-8792-9 |pages=125 |access-date=20 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200506222858/https://books.google.com/books?id=iq6qZXUkWo0C&pg=PA125 |archive-date=6 May 2020 |url-status=live |name-list-style=vanc}}</ref>{{text-source inline|date=May 2022}} A critique of this paper<ref name="Buchanan" /> concluded that these results were an insensitive, low-fidelity population proxy incapable of detecting demographic change.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Culleton |first=Brenda J. |name-list-style=vanc |date=16 Dec 2008 |title=Crude demographic proxy reveals nothing about Paleoindian population |journal=] |volume=105 |issue=50 |pages=E111; author reply E112–4 |bibcode=2008PNAS..105E.111C |doi=10.1073/pnas.0809092106 |pmc=2604924 |pmid=19073929 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The authors of a subsequent paper described three approaches to population dynamics in the Younger Dryas in North America, and concluded that there had been a significant decline and/or reorganisation in human population early in this period. The same paper also shows an apparent resurgence in population and/or settlements in the later Younger Dryas.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Anderson |first1=David G. |author-link=David G. Anderson |last2=Goodyear |first2=Albert |author-link2=Albert Goodyear |last3=Kennett |first3=James P. |author-link3=James P. Kennett |last4=West |first4=Allen |name-list-style=vanc |date=2011 |title=Multiple lines of evidence for possible Human population decline/settlement reorganization during the early Younger Dryas |journal=] |volume=242 |issue=2 |pages=570–583 |bibcode=2011QuInt.242..570A |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2011.04.020}}</ref> A 2022 study by an independent group presents genomic evidence that a previously unidentified pre-18,000 BP South American population suffered a major disruption at the Younger Dryas onset, resulting in a significant loss of lineages and a Y chromosome bottleneck.<ref name="10.1371_journal.pone.0271971">{{cite journal |last1=Sepulveda |first1=Paula B. Paz |last2=Mayordomo |first2=Andrea C. |last3=Sala |first3=Camille |last4=Sosa |first4=Ezequiel J. |last5=Zaiat |first5=Jonathan J. |last6=Cuello |first6=Mariela |last7=Schwab |first7=Marisol |last8=Golpe |first8=Danielaa R. |last9=Aquilano |first9=Eliana |last10=Santos |first10=Maria R. |last11=Dipierri |first11=Jose E. |last12=Gomez |first12=Emma L. A. |last13=Bravi |first13=Claudio M. |last14=Muzzio |first14=Marina |last15=Bailliet |first15=Graciela |name-list-style=vanc |date=2022 |title=Human Y chromosome sequences from Q Haplogroup reveal a South American settlement pre-18,000 years ago and a profound genomic impact during the Younger Dryas |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=17 |issue=8 |pages=e0271971 |bibcode=2022PLoSO..1771971P |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0271971 |pmc=9385064 |pmid=35976870 |doi-access=free}}</ref>


=== Hiawatha crater ===
In 2014, Kennet and an international collaboration of scientists published in The Journal of Geology research that argued that they had found what they interpreted to be "a thin layer over three continents, particularly in North America and Western Europe, that contain a rich assemblage of nanodiamonds, the production of which can be explained only by cosmic impact," <ref>{{cite web |url=http://phys.org/news/2014-08-year-old-nanodiamonds-multiple-continents.html |title=Study examines 13,000-year-old nanodiamonds from multiple locations across three continents |last=Cohen |first=Julie |publisher=Physorg.com |date=2014-08-27 |accessdate=2014-08-29 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Nanodiamond-Rich Layer across Three Continents Consistent with Major Cosmic Impact at 12,800 Cal BP |journal=The Journal of Geology |year=2014 |volume=122 |jstor=21104101928971 |url=http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.1086/677046?uid=3738032&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21104101928971 |accessdate=2014-08-29 }}</ref>
] with the ice sheet removed to show the surface of ] in the region around the ]]]
A 2018 paper reported the discovery of an ] under the ] in ] of unknown age.<ref>{{Cite journal |display-authors=8 |vauthors=Kjær KH, Larsen NK, Binder T, Bjørk AA, Eisen O, Fahnestock MA, Funder S, Garde AA, Haack H, Helm V, Houmark-Nielsen M, Kjeldsen KK, Khan SA, Machguth H, McDonald I, Morlighem M, Mouginot J, Paden JD, Waight TE, Weikusat C, Willerslev E, MacGregor JA |date=November 2018 |title=A large impact crater beneath Hiawatha Glacier in northwest Greenland |journal=] |volume=4 |issue=11 |pages=eaar8173 |bibcode=2018SciA....4.8173K |doi=10.1126/sciadv.aar8173 |pmc=6235527 |pmid=30443592 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Kurt Kjær, the lead author of the paper, speculated that it might date to the Pleistocene (2.58 million to 11,700 years ago), and mentioned a possible connection to the Younger Dryas.<ref name="Voosen">{{Cite web |last=Voosen |first=Paul |name-list-style=vanc |date=14 November 2018 |title=Massive crater under Greenland's ice points to climate-altering impact in the time of humans |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/massive-crater-under-greenland-s-ice-points-climate-altering-impact-time-humans |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190113194450/https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/11/massive-crater-under-greenland-s-ice-points-climate-altering-impact-time-humans |archive-date=13 January 2019 |access-date=13 January 2019 |website=Sciencemag.org |publisher=]}}</ref>


However, in 2022 the crater was dated to around 58 million years ago, the late ], using ] combined with ] of shocked ].{{efn|This paper's co-authors include Kurt Kjær and Elizabeth Silber}}<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Giant impact crater in Greenland occurred a few million years after dinosaurs went extinct |date=2022-03-09 |publisher=] |url=https://news.ku.dk/all_news/2022/03/giant-impact-crater-in-greenland-occurred-a-few-million-years-after-dinosaurs-went-extinct/ |access-date=2022-03-10 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309192942/https://news.ku.dk/all_news/2022/03/giant-impact-crater-in-greenland-occurred-a-few-million-years-after-dinosaurs-went-extinct/ |archive-date=2022-03-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Q |Q111179348 |last1=Kenny |first1=Gavin G. |last2=Hyde |first2=William R. |last3=Storey |first3=Michael |last4=Garde |first4=Adam A. |last5=Whitehouse |first5=Martin J. |last6=Beck |first6=Pierre |last7=Johansson |first7=Leif |last8=Søndergaard |first8=Anne Sofie |last9=Bjørk |first9=Anders A. |last10=MacGregor |first10=Joseph A. |last11=Khan |first11=Shfaqat A. |last12=Mouginot |first12=Jérémie |last13=Johnson |first13=Brandon C. |last14=Silber |first14=Elizabeth A. |last15=Wielandt |first15=Daniel K. P. |last16=Kjær |first16=Kurt H. |last17=Larsen |first17=Nicolaj K. |name-list-style=vanc |display-authors=8}}</ref>
==Criticism==


== Other explanations ==
A study of ] demography found no evidence of a population decline among the Paleoindians at 12,900&nbsp;±&nbsp;100&nbsp;BP, which was inconsistent with predictions of an impact event.<ref name=Holliday>{{cite journal |author=Holliday VT, Meltzer DJ |title=The 12.9-ka ET Impact Hypothesis and North American Paleoindians |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=51 |issue=5 |pages=575–606 |year=2010 |doi=10.1086/656015 |url=http://www.argonaut.arizona.edu/articles/2011_Update/Holliday_Meltzer_CA_%202010.pdf|format=pdf |accessdate=2012-04-20}}</ref> They suggested that the hypothesis would probably need to be revised.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Buchanan B, Collard M, Edinborough K |title=Paleoindian demography and the extraterrestrial impact hypothesis |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=105 |issue=33 |pages=11651–4 |date=August 19, 2008 |pmid=18697936 |pmc=2575318 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0803762105 |url=http://www.pnas.org/content/105/33/11651.abstract |bibcode=2008PNAS..10511651B}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Gary Haynes |title=American megafaunal extinctions at the end of the Pleistocene |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=iq6qZXUkWo0C&pg=PA125 |year=2009 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4020-8792-9 |pages=125|accessdate=2012-04-20}}</ref>
{{Main|Younger Dryas#Causes}}
There is also no evidence of continent-wide wildfires at any time during terminal Pleistocene deglaciation,<ref name=Marlonetal2009>{{cite journal |doi=10.1073/pnas.0808212106 |author=Marlon J.R., et al. |title=Wildfire responses to abrupt climate change in North America |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=106 |issue=8 |pages=2519–24 |year=2009 |pmid=19190185 |pmc=2650296 |bibcode = 2009PNAS..106.2519M }}</ref> along with evidence that most larger wildfires had a human origin,<ref name=Marlonetal2009/> which calls into question the origin of the "black mat."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/04/no-love-for-comet-wipeout.html |title=No Love for Comet Wipeout - ScienceNOW |author=Perkins S |date=2012-04-23 |accessdate=2012-04-28}}</ref> Iridium, magnetic minerals, microspherules, carbon, and nanodiamonds are all subject to differing interpretations as to their nature and origin, and may be explained in many cases by purely terrestrial or non-catastrophic factors.<ref name="PinterandIshman2008">{{cite journal |doi=10.1130/GSAT01801GW.1 |author=Pinter N., Ishman S.E |title=Impacts, mega-tsunami, and other extraordinary claims |journal=GSA Today |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=37–38 |year=2008 }}</ref>


A number of other hypotheses have been put forward about the cause of the Younger Dryas climate event.
If it is assumed that the hypothesis supposes that all effects of the putative impact on Earth's biota would have been brief, all extinctions caused by the impact should have occurred simultaneously. However, there is much evidence that the megafaunal extinctions that occurred across northern Eurasia, North America and South America at the end of the ] were not synchronous. The extinctions in South America appear to have occurred at least 400 years after the extinctions in North America.<ref name = "Haynes">{{Cite book
| first = Gary | last = Haynes | editor-last = Haynes | editor-first = Gary
| contribution = Introduction to the Volume
| contribution-url = http://www.springerlink.com/content/w314m76738r91g35/?p=5af1eb7387d443a2b514b284c646efa7&pi=0
| title = American Megafaunal Extinctions at the End of the Pleistocene | year = 2009 | pages = 1–20
| publisher = ]
| url = http://www.springerlink.com/content/978-1-4020-8792-9
| doi = 10.1007/978-1-4020-8793-6_1 | isbn = 978-1-4020-8792-9}}</ref><ref name = "Fiedel">{{Cite book
| first = Stuart | last = Fiedel | editor-last = Haynes | editor-first = Gary
| contribution = Sudden Deaths: The Chronology of Terminal Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinction
| contribution-url = http://www.springerlink.com/content/l225628681672725/?p=5af1eb7387d443a2b514b284c646efa7&pi=1
| title = American Megafaunal Extinctions at the End of the Pleistocene | year = 2009 | pages = 21–37
| publisher = ]
| url = http://www.springerlink.com/content/978-1-4020-8792-9
| doi = 10.1007/978-1-4020-8793-6_2 | isbn = 978-1-4020-8792-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Hubbe A, Hubbe M, Neves W|title=Early Holocene survival of megafauna in South America|journal=Journal of Biogeography|volume=34|issue=9|pages=1642–1646|year=2007|doi=10.1111/j.1365-2699.2007.01744.x}}</ref> The extinction of ]s in ] also appears to have occurred later than in North America.<ref name = "Haynes"/> A greater disparity in extinction timings is apparent in island megafaunal extinctions that lagged nearby continental extinctions by thousands of years; examples include the survival of woolly mammoths on ], ], until 3700&nbsp;BP,<ref name = "Haynes"/><ref name = "Fiedel"/><ref>{{cite journal |author=Stuart AJ, Kosintsev PA, Higham TF, Lister AM |title=Pleistocene to Holocene extinction dynamics in giant deer and woolly mammoth |journal=Nature |volume=431 |issue=7009 |pages=684–9 |date=October 2004 |pmid=15470427 |doi=10.1038/nature02890 |url=|bibcode = 2004Natur.431..684S }}</ref> and the survival of ] in the ],<ref>{{cite book |author=Martin, Paul |title=Twilight of the mammoths: ice age extinctions and the rewilding of America |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |year=2005 |chapter=4 Ground Sloths at Home Cryptozoology, Ground Sloths, and Mapinguari National Park |isbn=0-520-23141-4 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=}}</ref> the ], until 4700 cal&nbsp;BP.<ref name = "Haynes"/> The Australian megafaunal extinctions occurred approximately 30,000 years earlier than the hypothetical Younger Dryas event.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Barnosky AD |title=Colloquium paper: Megafauna biomass tradeoff as a driver of Quaternary and future extinctions |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=105 Suppl 1 |issue= |pages=11543–8 |date=August 2008 |pmid=18695222 |pmc=2556404 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0801918105 |url=|bibcode = 2008PNAS..10511543B }}</ref>


=== Mainstream explanation ===
The megafaunal extinction pattern observed in North America poses a problem for the bolide impact scenario, since it raises the question why large mammals should be preferentially exterminated over small mammals or other vertebrates.<ref name="Scott2010">{{cite journal | author = Scott, E. | year = 2010 | pages = 225 | issue = 1–2 | title = Extinctions, scenarios, and assumptions: Changes in latest Pleistocene large herbivore abundance and distribution in western North America | volume = 217 | journal = Quat. Int. | doi = 10.1016/j.quaint.2009.11.003|bibcode = 2010QuInt.217..225S }}</ref> Additionally, some extant megafaunal species such as ] and ] seem to have been little affected by the extinction event, while the environmental devastation caused by a bolide impact would not be expected to discriminate.<ref name = "Haynes"/> Also, it appears that there was collapse in North American megafaunal population from 14,800 to 13,700&nbsp;BP, well before the date of the hypothetical extraterrestrial impact,<ref>{{cite journal |author=Gill JL, Williams JW, Jackson ST, Lininger KB, Robinson GS |title=Pleistocene megafaunal collapse, novel plant communities, and enhanced fire regimes in North America |journal=Science |volume=326 |issue=5956 |pages=1100–3 |date=November 2009 |pmid=19965426 |doi=10.1126/science.1179504 |url=|bibcode = 2009Sci...326.1100G }}</ref> possibly from anthropogenic activities, including hunting.<ref name=Carrasco/>
The most widely accepted explanation is that it began because of a significant reduction or ] – which circulates warm tropical waters northward – as the consequence of ] in North America. Geological evidence for such an event is not fully secure,<ref name="Broecker2">{{cite journal |last=Broecker |first=Wallace S. |year=2006 |title=Was the Younger Dryas triggered by a flood? |journal=Science |volume=312 |issue=5777 |pages=1146–1148 |doi=10.1126/science.1123253 |pmid=16728622 |s2cid=39544213}}</ref> but recent work has identified a pathway along the ] that would have spilled fresh water from ] into the Arctic and thence into the Atlantic.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Murton |first1=Julian B. |last2=Bateman |first2=Mark D. |last3=Dallimore |first3=Scott R. |last4=Teller |first4=James T. |last5=Yang |first5=Zhirong |date=2010 |title=Identification of Younger Dryas outburst flood path from Lake Agassiz to the Arctic Ocean |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=464 |issue=7289 |pages=740–743 |bibcode=2010Natur.464..740M |doi=10.1038/nature08954 |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=20360738 |s2cid=4425933}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Keigwin |first1=L.D. |last2=Klotsko |first2=S. |last3=Zhao |first3=N. |last4=Reilly |first4=B. |last5=Giosan |first5=L. |last6=Driscoll |first6=N.W. |date=2018 |title=Deglacial floods in the Beaufort Sea preceded Younger Dryas cooling |journal=Nature Geoscience |language=en |volume=11 |issue=8 |pages=599–604 |bibcode=2018NatGe..11..599K |doi=10.1038/s41561-018-0169-6 |issn=1752-0894 |hdl-access=free |hdl=1912/10543 |s2cid=133852610}}</ref> The global climate would then have become locked into the new state until freezing removed the fresh water "lid" from the North Atlantic.


=== Other alternatives ===
Scientists have asserted that the carbon spherules originated as fungal structures and/or insect fecal pellets, and contained modern contaminants<ref name = "Boslough"/><ref name = "spherules">{{Cite web
Although initially sceptical, ]—the scientist who proposed the conveyor shutdown hypothesis—eventually agreed with the idea of an extraterrestrial impact at the Younger Dryas boundary, and thought that it had acted as a trigger on top of a system that was already approaching instability.{{efn|] did not believe that the impact caused extinctions.<ref name="Broecker Brief" />}}<ref name="Broecker Brief">{{Cite Q |Q107575586 |last=Broecker |first=Wallace S. |author-link=Wallace Smith Broecker |name-list-style=vanc |url-status=live}}</ref>
| last = Roach | first = John
| title = Fungi, Feces Show Comet Didn't Kill Ice Age Mammals?
| work =
| publisher = ] | date = 2010-06-22
| url = http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/100622-science-environment-wildfires-cooling-ice-age-extinctions/
| accessdate = 2010-06-25}}</ref> and that the claimed nanodiamonds are actually misidentified ] and graphene/] oxide aggregates.<ref name = "Daulton">{{Cite journal
| last = Daulton | first = T. L. | coauthors = Pinter, N.; Scott, A. C.
| title = No evidence of nanodiamonds in Younger–Dryas sediments to support an impact event
|journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=107 |issue=37 |pages=16043–7 | date = 2010-08-30
| doi = 10.1073/pnas.1003904107
| pmc = 2941276 | pmid=20805511 | bibcode=2010PNAS..10716043D}}</ref><ref name = "Kerr2">{{Cite web
| last = Kerr | first = Richard A. | title = Mammoth-Killer Impact Rejected
| work =
| publisher = ] | date = 2010-10-30
| url = http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/08/mammoth-killer-impact-rejected.html
| accessdate = 2010-08-31}}</ref> An analysis of a similar Younger Dryas boundary layer in Belgium yielded carbon crystalline structures such as nanodiamonds, but the authors concluded that also did not show unique evidence for a bolide impact.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Tian H, Schryvers D, Claeys P |title=Nanodiamonds do not provide unique evidence for a Younger Dryas impact |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=108 |issue=1 |pages=40–4 |date=January 2011 |pmid=21173270 |pmc=3017148 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1007695108 |url=|bibcode = 2011PNAS..108...40T }}</ref> Researchers have also have not found any extraterrestrial ] metals in the boundary layer which would be inconsistent with the hypothesized impact event.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Paquay FS, Goderis S, Ravizza G, et al. |title=Absence of geochemical evidence for an impact event at the Bølling-Allerød/Younger Dryas transition |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=106 |issue=51 |pages=21505–10 |date=December 2009 |pmid=20007789 |pmc=2799824 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0908874106 |url=|bibcode = 2009PNAS..10621505P }}</ref> Further independent analysis was unable to confirm prior claims of magnetic particles and microspherules, concluding that there was no evidence for a Younger Dryas impact event.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Surovell TA, Holliday VT, Gingerich JA, et al. |title=An independent evaluation of the Younger Dryas extraterrestrial impact hypothesis |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=106 |issue=43 |pages=18155–8 |date=October 2009 |pmid=19822748 |pmc=2775309 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0907857106 |url= |accessdate=2012-04-20|bibcode = 2009PNAS..10618155S }}</ref>


Another hypothesis suggests instead that the ] shifted northward in response to the melting of the North American ice sheet, which brought more rain to the North Atlantic, which freshened the ocean surface enough to slow the ].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Eisenman |first1=I. |last2=Bitz |first2=C.M. |author2-link=Cecilia Bitz |last3=Tziperman |first3=E. |year=2009 |title=Rain driven by receding ice sheets as a cause of past climate change |journal=Paleoceanography |volume=24 |issue=4 |page=PA4209 |bibcode=2009PalOc..24.4209E |doi=10.1029/2009PA001778 |doi-access=free |s2cid=6896108}}</ref>
Other research has shown no support for the impact hypothesis. One group examined carbon-14 dates for charcoal particles that showed wildfires occurred well after the proposed impact date, and the glass-like carbon was produced by wildfires and no lonsdaleite was found.<ref name=vanhoesel>{{cite journal |author=van Hoesel A, Hoek WZ, Braadbaart F, van der Plicht J, Pennock GM, Drury MR |title=Nanodiamonds and wildfire evidence in the Usselo horizon postdate the Allerod-Younger Dryas boundary |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=109 |issue=20 |pages=7648–53 |date=May 2012 |pmid=22547791 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1120950109 |url=|bibcode = 2012PNAS..109.7648V |pmc=3356666}}</ref>


Another proposed cause has been volcanic activity.<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Texas Cave Sediment Upends Meteorite Explanation for Global Cooling |date=2020-07-31 |publisher=] |location=Waco, Texas |url=https://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&story=219716 |access-date=2021-08-03 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601090925/https://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&story=219716 |archive-date=2021-06-01}}</ref>{{sfnp|Sun|Brandon|Forman|Waters|2020}} However, this has been challenged recently due to improved dating of the most likely suspect, the ] volcano. In 2021, research by Frederick Reinig et al. precisely dated the eruption to 200 ± 21 years before the onset of the Younger Dryas, therefore ruling it out as a culprit.<ref>{{Cite Q|Q107389873|last=Reinig|first=Frederick|last2=Wacker|first2=Lukas|last3=Jöris|first3=Olaf|last4=Oppenheimer|first4=Clive|last5=Guidobaldi|first5=Giulia|last6=Nievergelt|first6=Daniel|last7=Adolphi|first7=Florian|last8=Cherubini|first8=Paolo|last9=Engels|first9=Stefan|last10=Esper|first10=Jan|last11=Land|first11=Alexander|last12=Lane|first12=Christine|last13=Pfanz|first13=Hardy|last14=Remmele|first14=Sabine|last15=Sigl|first15=Michael|last16=Sookdeo|first16=Adam|last17=Büntgen|first17=Ulf|display-authors=6|name-list-style=vanc|quote= firmly date the to 13,006 ± 9 calibrated years before present (BP; taken as AD 1950), which is more than a century earlier than previously accepted. ...thereby dating the onset of the Younger Dryas to 12,807 ± 12 calibrated years BP, which is around 130 years earlier than thought.}}</ref> The same study also concluded that the onset took place synchronously over the entire North Atlantic and Central European region. A press release from the ] stated, "Due to the new dating, the European archives now have to be temporally adapted. At the same time, a previously existing temporal difference to the data from the Greenland ice cores was closed."<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Eruption of the Laacher See volcano redated |date=2021-07-01 |url=https://www.uni-mainz.de/presse/aktuell/13879_ENG_HTML.php |access-date=2021-08-26 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210701165741/https://www.uni-mainz.de/presse/aktuell/13879_ENG_HTML.php |archive-date=2021-07-01 |website=] |quote=That is 126 years earlier than the generally accepted dating based on sediments in the Meerfelder Maar from the Eifel region in Germany. ... This difference has far-reaching consequences for the synchronization of European climate archives and the understanding of North Atlantic and European climate history. ... This means that the also occurred in Central Europe 130 years earlier, around 12,870 years ago respectively. This is in line with the onset of the cooling in the North Atlantic region identified in ice cores from Greenland. ... 'This strong cooling did not take place time transgressively, as previously thought, but rather synchronously over the entire North Atlantic and Central European region,' said Frederick Reinig.}}</ref>
Research published in 2012 has shown that the so-called "black mats" are easily explained by typical earth processes in wetland environments.<ref name=Pigati>{{cite journal |author=Pigati JS, Latorre C, Rech JA, Betancourt JL, Martínez KE, Budahn JR |title=Accumulation of impact markers in desert wetlands and implications for the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis |journal=Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A |volume= 109|issue= 19|pages= 7208–12|date=April 2012 |pmid=22529347 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1200296109 |url= |accessdate=2012-04-28|bibcode = 2012PNAS..109.7208P }}</ref> The study of black mats, that are common in prehistorical wetland deposits which represent shallow marshlands, that were from 6000 to 40,000 years ago in the southwestern USA and ] in Chile, showed elevated concentrations of iridium and magnetic sediments, magnetic spherules and titanomagnetite grains. It was suggested that because these markers are found within or at the base of black mats, irrespective of age or location, suggests that these markers arise from processes common to wetland systems, and probably not as a result of catastrophic bolide impacts.<ref name=Pigati/>


== History ==
A 2013 study found a spike in platinum in Greenland ice. The authors of that study conclude that such a small impact of an iron meteorite is “unlikely to result in an airburst or trigger wide wildfires proposed by the YDB impact hypothesis."<ref name=Petaev/>
{{primary sources|section|date=October 2022}}


The idea that a comet struck North America at the end of the last ice age was first proposed as a speculative premise by the American congressman and pseudohistorian ] in 1883, who suggested it formed the ] and caused a sudden extreme cold period, which devastated animal and human populations.<ref name=":1" />
Recent evidence continues to oppose the YDB impact hypothesis. New research, which analyzed sediments claimed, by the hypothesis proponents, to be deposits resulting from a bolide impact were, in fact, dated from much later or much earlier time periods than the proposed date of the cosmic impact. The researchers examined 29 sites that are commonly referenced to support the impact theory to determine if they can be geologically dated to around 13,000 years ago. Crucially, only 3 of the sites actually date from that time. According to the researchers, the Younger Dryas impact event evidence "fails the critical chronological test of an isochronous event at the YD onset, which, coupled with the many published concerns about the extraterrestrial origin of the purported impact markers, renders the YDIH unsupported. There is no reason or compelling evidence to accept the claim that a cosmic impact occurred ∼12,800 y ago and caused the Younger Dryas."<ref name="Meltzer2014"/>

In 2001, Richard Firestone and William Topping published their first version of the YDIH, "Terrestrial Evidence of a Nuclear Catastrophe in Paleoindian Times" in Mammoth Trumpet, a newsletter of the Center for the Study of the First Americans.<ref name=":4">{{cite journal |last1=Firestone |first1=Richard B. |last2=Topping |first2=William |title=Terrestrial Evidence of a Nuclear Catastrophe in Paleoindian Times |journal=Mammoth Trumpit |date=March 2001 |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=9–16 |url=https://liberalarts.tamu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/08/vol16_num2.pdf |access-date=31 January 2023}}</ref> They proposed that "the entire Great Lakes region (and beyond) was subjected to a particle bombardment and a catastrophic nuclear radiation..." They argue that this cataclysm generated a shock wave that gouged out the ] and reset the radiocarbon clock. Most geologists today interpret the Carolina bays as relict geomorphological features that developed via various eolian and lacustrine processes. Multiple lines of evidence, e.g. ], ] dating, and ], indicate that the Carolina bays predate the start of the ]. Fossil pollen recovered from cores of undisturbed sediment taken from various Carolina bays in North Carolina by Frey,<ref name="Frey1953a">{{cite journal|jstor=1943595|doi=10.2307/1943595|title=Regional Aspects of the Late-Glacial and Post-Glacial Pollen Succession of Southeastern North Carolina|year=1953|last1=Frey|first1=David G.|journal=Ecological Monographs|volume=23|issue=3|pages=289–313|bibcode=1953EcoM...23..289F }}</ref><ref name="Frey1955a">{{cite journal|doi=10.2307/1931316|jstor=1931316|title=A Time Revision of the Pleistocene Pollen Chronology of Southeastern North Carolina|year=1955|last1=Frey|first1=David G.|journal=Ecology|volume=36|issue=4|pages=762–763|bibcode=1955Ecol...36..762F }}
</ref> Watts,<ref name="Watts1980a">{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/0033-5894(80)90028-9 |title=Late-Quaternary Vegetation History at White Pond on the Inner Coastal Plain of South Carolina |year=1980 |last1=Watts |first1=W. A. |journal=Quaternary Research |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=187–199 |bibcode=1980QuRes..13..187W |s2cid=140654499 }}</ref> and Whitehead<ref name="Whitehead1964a">{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/1934924 |jstor=1934924 |title=Fossil Pine Pollen and Full-Glacial Vegetation in Southeastern North Carolina |year=1964 |last1=Whitehead |first1=Donald R. |journal=Ecology |volume=45 |issue=4 |pages=767–777 |bibcode=1964Ecol...45..767W }}</ref><ref name="Whitehead1981a">{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/2937324 |jstor=2937324 |title=Late-Pleistocene Vegetational Changes in Northeastern North Carolina |year=1981 |last1=Whitehead |first1=Donald R. |journal=Ecological Monographs |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=451–471 |bibcode=1981EcoM...51..451W }}</ref> document the presence of full glacial pollen zones within the sediments filling some Carolina bays. The range of dates can be interpreted that Carolina bays were either created episodically over the last tens of thousands of years or were created at time over a hundred thousand years ago and have since been episodically modified.<ref name="BrooksOthers1996a">{{cite journal |doi=10.1002/(SICI)1520-6548(199610)11:6<481::AID-GEA2>3.0.CO;2-4 |title=Carolina Bay geoarchaeology and Holocene landscape evolution on the Upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina |year=1996 |last1=Brooks |first1=Mark J. |last2=Taylor |first2=Barbara E. |last3=Grant |first3=John A. |journal=Geoarchaeology|volume=11 |issue=6 |pages=481–504|bibcode=1996Gearc..11..481B }}</ref><ref name="BrooksOthers2001a">{{cite journal |author=Brooks, M. J. |year=2001 |title=Pleistocene encroachment of the Wateree River sand sheet into Big Bay on the Middle Coastal Plain of South Carolina |journal= Southeastern Geology |volume= 40 |pages=241–257}}</ref><ref name="GrantOthers1998a">{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/S0169-555X(97)00074-3 |title=New constraints on the evolution of Carolina Bays from ground-penetrating radar |year=1998 |last1=Grant |first1=John A. |last2=Brooks |first2=Mark J. |last3=Taylor |first3=Barbara E. |journal=Geomorphology |volume=22 |issue=3–4 |pages=325–345|bibcode=1998Geomo..22..325G}}</ref> Recent work by the U.S. Geological Survey<ref name="b1">{{cite book |last1=Swezey |first1= C. S. |chapter= Quaternary Eolian Dunes and Sand Sheets in Inland Locations of the Atlantic Coastal Plain Province, USA |date=2020 |title=Inland Dunes of North America |series= Dunes of the World |editor-first1=N. |editor-last1= Lancaster |editor-first2=P. |editor-last2=Hesp |publisher=Springer Publishing |pages=11–63 |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-40498-7_2 |isbn=978-3-030-40498-7 |s2cid= 219502764}}</ref> has interpreted the Carolina bays as relict ] lakes that have been modified by ] and ] processes. Modern thermokarst lakes are common today around Barrow (Alaska), and the long axes of these lakes are oblique to the prevailing wind direction.

In 2006, ''The Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes: How a Stone-Age Comet Changed the Course of World Culture'', a trade book by Richard Firestone, Allen West and Simon Warwick-Smith, was published by ] and marketed in the category of ]. It proposed that a large ] or ] of one or more ]s initiated the Younger Dryas cold period about 12,900&nbsp;] ] (10,900&nbsp;<sup>14</sup>C uncalibrated) years ago.<ref name="Firestone2006">{{Cite book |last1=Firestone |first1=Richard |url=https://archive.org/details/cycleofcosmiccat0000fire/page/392 |title=The Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes: How a Stone-Age comet changed the course of world culture |last2=West |first2=Allen |last3=Warwick-Smith |first3=Simon |date=4 June 2006 |publisher=] |isbn=978-1591430612 |name-list-style=vanc}}</ref>

In May 2007, at a meeting of the ] in ], Firestone, West, and around twenty other scientists made their first formal presentation of the hypothesis/<ref name="Dalton" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Gramling |first=Carolyn |name-list-style=vanc |date=2018-06-26 |title=Why won't this debate about an ancient cold snap die? |language=en-US |work=] |url=https://www.sciencenews.org/article/younger-dryas-comet-impact-cold-snap |url-status=live |access-date=2021-08-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210805112551/https://www.sciencenews.org/article/younger-dryas-comet-impact-cold-snap |archive-date=2021-08-05 |quote=The first formal description of the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis came in 2007, when four researchers sat in front of a gaggle of reporters at the American Geophysical Union's spring meeting in Acapulco, Mexico.}}</ref> Later that year, the group published a paper in the '']'' (PNAS) that suggested the impact event may have led to an immediate decline in human populations in North America.<ref name="PNAS07A"/> Since this paper was considered too controversial for standard peer review, it was handled by a specially selected 'personal editor' who was friendly to the hypothesis.<ref name="NJones" />

In 2008, ] published data to support the synchronous nature of the black mats,{{efn|name=Black mat note}} emphasizing that independent analysis of other Clovis sites was required to support the hypothesis. He was skeptical of the bolide impact as the cause of the Younger Dryas and associated megafauna extinction but concluded "...&nbsp;something major happened at 10,900&nbsp;] (<sup>14</sup>C uncalibrated) that we have yet to understand."<ref>{{Cite journal |author-link=Vance Haynes |vauthors=Haynes CV |date=May 2008 |title=Younger Dryas "black mats" and the Rancholabrean termination in North America |journal=] |volume=105 |issue=18 |pages=6520–6525 |bibcode=2008PNAS..105.6520H |doi=10.1073/pnas.0800560105 |pmc=2373324 |pmid=18436643|doi-access=free }}</ref> The first debate between proponents and skeptics was held at the 2008 ] in Flagstaff, Arizona.<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyz7Lcvamu4|website=YouTube|title= Pecos Conference 2008 Comet Impact Debate|year=2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=2008 Pecos Conference |url=http://www.swanet.org/2008_pecos_conference/related.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803211311/http://www.swanet.org/2008_pecos_conference/related.html |archive-date=3 August 2019 |access-date=3 August 2019 |website=swanet.org}}</ref>

In 2009, papers by Kerr <ref name="Kerr">{{Cite journal |author-link=Richard Kerr (science journalist) |vauthors=Kerr RA |date=January 2009 |title=Planetary impacts. Did the mammoth slayer leave a diamond calling card? |url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/16089/files/PAL_E3880.pdf |journal=] |volume=323 |issue=5910 |pages=26 |doi=10.1126/science.323.5910.26 |pmid=19119192 |s2cid=29639618}}</ref> and Kennett <ref name="Kennett">{{Cite journal |author-link2=James P. Kennett |display-authors=8 |vauthors=Kennett DJ, Kennett JP, West A, Mercer C, Hee SS, Bement L, Bunch TE, Sellers M, Wolbach WS |date=January 2009 |title=Nanodiamonds in the Younger Dryas boundary sediment layer |url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/16088/files/PAL_E3879.pdf |journal=] |volume=323 |issue=5910 |pages=94 |bibcode=2009Sci...323...94K |doi=10.1126/science.1162819 |pmid=19119227 |s2cid=206514910}}</ref> in the journal '']'' asserted that nanodiamonds were evidence for a swarm of ] or ] fragments from air burst(s) or impact(s) that set parts of North America on fire, caused the ] in North America, and led to the demise of the ] A special debate-style session was convened at the 2009 ] in which skeptics and supporters alternated in giving presentations.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Younger Dryas Boundary: Extraterrestrial Impact or Not? I Posters |url=http://abstractsearch.agu.org/meetings/2009/FM/PP31D.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803211620/http://abstractsearch.agu.org/meetings/2009/FM/PP31D.html |archive-date=2019-08-03 |access-date=2021-06-09 |website=abstractsearch.agu.org |series=2009 AGU Fall Meeting |id=PP31D}}<br/>
{{Cite web |title=Younger Dryas Boundary: Extraterrestrial Impact or Not? II |url=http://abstractsearch.agu.org/meetings/2009/FM/PP33B.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429184719/https://abstractsearch.agu.org/meetings/2009/FM/PP33B.html |archive-date=2021-04-29 |access-date=2021-06-09 |website=abstractsearch.agu.org |series=2009 AGU Fall Meeting |id=PP33B}}</ref>

{{anchor|Taurids}}
In 2010, astronomer ] published a model suggesting that fragments of a comet—initially 50 to 100 kilometers in diameter—could have been responsible for such an impact, and that the ] is formed of the remaining debris.

{{anchor|Requiem}}
In 2011, Pinter and others challenged the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis on the basis that most of the conclusions could not be ] and were a misinterpretation of data.<ref name="Pinter et al 2011"/> Skepticism increased when it was reported that one of the lead authors of the original paper had practiced geophysics without a license.{{efn|Allen West had the conviction expunged after the matter was reported on by Rex Dalton.<ref name="Enforcement Action" /><ref name="Dalton2011" />}}<ref name="Enforcement Action">{{Cite web |date=2002-06-06 |title=Enforcement Action |url=http://www.geology.ca.gov/consumers/enforcement/jonkerwhitt.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120408205803/http://www.geology.ca.gov/consumers/enforcement/jonkerwhitt.shtml |archive-date=2012-04-08 |website=] - Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists |quote=The Board's inquiry concluded that Kevin Lee Jonker and Allen Whitt had practiced geophysics without a license.}}</ref><ref name="Dalton2011">{{Cite web |last=Dalton |first=Rex |name-list-style=vanc |date=May 14, 2011 |title=Comet Theory Comes Crashing to Earth |url=https://psmag.com/environment/comet-claim-comes-crashing-to-earth-31180 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211004633/https://psmag.com/environment/comet-claim-comes-crashing-to-earth-31180 |archive-date=11 February 2021 |access-date=24 July 2019 |website=]}}</ref> Around that time, Daulton stated that no nanodiamonds were found<ref name="Daulton" /> and that the supposed carbon spherules could be fungus or insect feces and included modern contaminants as stated by Boslough and others<ref name="Boslough">{{Cite book |title=Climates, Landscapes, and Civilizations |vauthors=Boslough M, Nicoll K, Holliday V, Daulton TL, Meltzer D, Pinter N, Scott AC, Surovell T, Claeys P, Gill J, Paquay F, Marlon JR, Bartlein PJ, Whitlock CL, Grayson D, Jull AJ |year=2013 |isbn=9781118704325 |veditors=Giosan L, Fuller DQ, Nicoll K, Flad RK, Clift PD |series=Geophysical Monograph Series |pages=13–26 |chapter=Arguments and Evidence Against a Younger Dryas Impact Event |doi=10.1029/2012GM001209 |display-authors=8 |author-link=Mark Boslough |author-link3=Vance T. Holliday |author-link5=David J. Meltzer |author-link7=Andrew Cunningham Scott |author-link10=Jacquelyn Gill |author-link14=Cathy Whitlock |author-link16=A.J. Timothy Jull}}</ref> and Roach.<ref name="spherules" /> In response, in June&nbsp;2013 Wittke and others published a re-evaluation of spherules from eighteen sites worldwide that they interpret as supporting their hypothesis.<ref name="Wittke b" />

In 2012, a paper by Bunch and others reported the discovery of scoria like objects (SLO) and stated that they were consistent with an extraterrestrial impact or airburst.<ref name="Bunch">{{Cite journal |author-link3=Andrew M. T. Moore |author-link9=Gordon Hillman |author-link18=James P. Kennett |display-authors=8 |vauthors=Bunch TE, Hermes RE, Moore AM, Kennett DJ, Weaver JC, Wittke JH, DeCarli PS, Bischoff JL, Hillman GC, Howard GA, Kimbel DR, Kletetschka G, Lipo CP, Sakai S, Revay Z, West A, Firestone RB, Kennett JP |date=July 2012 |title=Very high-temperature impact melt products as evidence for cosmic airbursts and impacts 12,900 years ago |journal=] |volume=109 |issue=28 |pages=E1903–E1912 |bibcode=2012PNAS..109E1903B |doi=10.1073/pnas.1204453109 |pmc=3396500 |pmid=22711809|doi-access=free }}</ref> Post-publication review of this paper suggests that at least some of these SLOs are anthropogenic.<ref>{{cite journal|display-authors=8 |vauthors=Bunch TE, Hermes RE, Moore AM, Kennett DJ, Weaver JC, Wittke JH, DeCarli PS, Bischoff JL, Hillman GC, Howard GA, Kimbel DR, Kletetschka G, Lipo CP, Sakai S, Revay Z, West A, Firestone RB, Kennett JP |date=July 2012 |title=Very high-temperature impact melt products as evidence for cosmic airbursts and impacts 12,900 years ago |url=https://pubpeer.com/publications/7031153F4F3B5EB62FA7EE5B6FD9E3|access-date=2022-08-15 |website=PubPeer}}</ref> Another group of scientists reported evidence supporting a modified version of the hypothesis—involving a fragmented comet or asteroid—was found in lake bed cores dating to 12,900&nbsp;] from ] in ], Mexico. It included nanodiamonds (including the hexagonal form called ]), carbon spherules, and magnetic spherules. Multiple hypotheses were examined to account for these observations, though none were believed to be terrestrial. Lonsdaleite occurs naturally in asteroids and cosmic dust and as a result of extraterrestrial impacts on Earth.<ref name="ISRADE-ALCÁNTARA2012">{{Cite journal |display-authors=8 |author-link11=James P. Kennett |vauthors=Israde-Alcántara I, Bischoff JL, Domínguez-Vázquez G, Li HC, DeCarli PS, Bunch TE, Wittke JH, Weaver JC, Firestone RB, West A, Kennett JP, Mercer C, Xie S, Richman EK, Kinzie CR, Wolbach WS |date=March 2012 |title=Evidence from central Mexico supporting the Younger Dryas extraterrestrial impact hypothesis |journal=] |volume=109 |issue=13 |pages=E738–E747 |bibcode=2012PNAS..109E.738I |doi=10.1073/pnas.1110614109 |pmc=3324006 |pmid=22392980|doi-access=free }}</ref> Lonsdaleite has also been made artificially in laboratories.<ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Bundy FP |year=1967 |title=Hexagonal Diamond—A New Form of Carbon |journal=] |volume=46 |issue=9 |pages=3437–3446 |bibcode=1967JChPh..46.3437B |doi=10.1063/1.1841236}}</ref><ref name="Kaminskii">{{Cite journal |display-authors=8 |vauthors=Kaminskii FV, Blinova GK, Galimov EM, Gurkina GA, Klyuev YA, Kodina LA, Koptil VI, Krivonos VF, Frolova FN, Khrenov AY |year=1985 |title=Polycrystalline aggregates of diamond with lonsdaleite from Yakutian placers |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284295851 |url-status=live |journal=Mineral Zhurnal |volume=7 |pages=27–36 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023234301/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284295851 |archive-date=23 October 2018 |access-date=1 July 2017}}</ref>{{Relevance inline |sentence |reason=Why does it matter that synthetic lonsdaleite can me made in laboratories? |date=July 2021}}

In 2013, Petaev and others reported a hundredfold spike in the concentration of platinum in Greenland ] roughly dated to 12,890&nbsp;].<ref name="Petaev">{{Cite journal |vauthors=Petaev MI, Huang S, Jacobsen SB, Zindler A |date=August 2013 |title=Large Pt anomaly in the Greenland ice core points to a cataclysm at the onset of Younger Dryas |journal=] |volume=110 |issue=32 |pages=12917–12920 |bibcode=2013PNAS..11012917P |doi=10.1073/pnas.1303924110 |pmc=3740870 |pmid=23878232|doi-access=free }}</ref> This anomaly was attributed to a small local iron meteorite fall without any widespread consequences.<ref name="Boslough2013a">{{Cite journal |last=Boslough |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Boslough |name-list-style=vanc |date=December 2013 |title=Greenland Pt anomaly may point to non-cataclysmic Cape York meteorite entry |journal=] |volume=110 |issue=52 |page=E5035 |bibcode=2013PNAS..110E5035B |doi=10.1073/pnas.1320328111 |pmc=3876257 |pmid=24347646|doi-access=free }}</ref> A refutation of the YDIH,<ref name=":1" /> by Holliday and others (including Petaev), showed that the Pt spike was not evidence to support the YDIH because it occurred 20 years after the YDB.

In 2016, Holiday and others reported on further analysis of Younger Dryas boundary sediments at nine sites found no evidence of an extraterrestrial impact at the Younger Dryas boundary.<ref>{{Cite journal |author-link=Vance T. Holliday |vauthors=Holliday V, Surovell T, Johnson E |date=2016-07-08 |title=A Blind Test of the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis |journal=] |volume=11 |issue=7 |pages=e0155470 |bibcode=2016PLoSO..1155470H |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0155470 |pmc=4938604 |pmid=27391147|doi-access=free }}</ref> Also that year, Daulton and others reported an analysis of nanodiamond evidence failed to uncover lonsdaleite or a spike in nanodiamond concentration at the {{abbr|YDB|Younger Dryas boundary}}.<ref name="DaultonOthers2017a">{{Cite journal |last1=Daulton |first1=Tyrone L. |last2=Amari |first2=Sachiko |last3=Scott |first3=Andrew C. |author-link3=Andrew Cunningham Scott |last4=Hardiman |first4=Mark |last5=Pinter |first5=Nicholas |last6=Anderson |first6=R. Scott |name-list-style=vanc |date=2016-12-19 |title=Comprehensive analysis of nanodiamond evidence relating to the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis |url=https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/comprehensive-analysis-of-nanodiamond-evidence-reported-to-support-the-younger-dryas-impact-hypothesis(f675f063-5d32-4cac-9b83-e7ce6a9432d6).html |url-status=live |journal=] |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=7–34 |bibcode=2017JQS....32....7D |doi=10.1002/jqs.2892 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200205000623/https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/comprehensive-analysis-of-nanodiamond-evidence-reported-to-support-the-younger-dryas-impact-hypothesis(f675f063-5d32-4cac-9b83-e7ce6a9432d6).html |archive-date=5 February 2020 |access-date=5 February 2020 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

In 2017, C R Moore and others reported a ] anomaly at eleven continental sites dated to the Younger Dryas, which is linked with the Greenland Platinum anomaly.<ref>{{Cite journal |author-link6=Albert Goodyear |author-link10=James P. Kennett |display-authors=8 |vauthors=Moore CR, West A, LeCompte MA, Brooks MJ, Daniel IR, Goodyear AC, Ferguson TA, Ivester AH, Feathers JK, Kennett JP, Tankersley KB, Adedeji AV, Bunch TE |date=March 2017 |title=Widespread platinum anomaly documented at the Younger Dryas onset in North American sedimentary sequences |journal=] |volume=7 |issue=1 |page=44031 |bibcode=2017NatSR...744031M |doi=10.1038/srep44031 |pmc=5343653 |pmid=28276513}}</ref>

In 2018, dealing with an "extraordinary biomass-burning episode" associated with the Younger Dryas Impact were reported by Wolbach and others <ref name="Wolbach a">{{Cite journal |display-authors=8 |vauthors=Wolbach WS, Ballard JP, Mayewski PA, Adedeji V, Bunch TE, Firestone RB, French TA, Howard GA, Israde-Alcántara I, Johnson JR, Kimbel D, etal |date=March 2018 |title=Extraordinary biomass-burning episode and impact winter triggered by the Younger Dryas cosmic impact ~12,800 years ago. Part&nbsp;1. Ice Cores and Glaciers |journal=] |volume=126 |issue=2 |pages=165–184 |bibcode=2018JG....126..165W |doi=10.1086/695703 |s2cid=53021110}}</ref><ref name="Wolbach b">{{Cite journal |author-link9=Jon M. Erlandson |display-authors=8 |vauthors=Wolbach WS, Ballard JP, Mayewski PA, Parnell AC, Cahill N, Adedeji V, Bunch TE, Domínguez-Vázquez G, Erlandson JM, Firestone RB, French TA, etal |date=March 2018 |title=Extraordinary biomass-burning episode and impact winter triggered by the Younger Dryas cosmic impact ~12,800&nbsp;years ago. Part&nbsp;2. Lake, Marine, and Terrestrial Sediments |url=http://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/13277/1/AP_hamilton_extraordinary.pdf |url-status=live |journal=] |volume=126 |issue=2 |pages=185–205 |bibcode=2018JG....126..185W |doi=10.1086/695704 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201104002502/http://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/13277/1/AP_hamilton_extraordinary.pdf |archive-date=4 November 2020 |access-date=10 November 2020 |s2cid=53494648}}</ref> and Lynch.<ref>{{Cite press release |title=New research suggests toward end of Ice Age, human beings witnessed fires larger than dinosaur killer, thanks to a cosmic impact |date=2018-02-01 |url=https://news.ku.edu/2018/01/30/new-research-suggests-toward-end-ice-age-human-beings-witnessed-fires-larger-dinosaur |last1=Lynch |first1=Brendan M. |access-date=2021-12-14 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526014433/https://news.ku.edu/2018/01/30/new-research-suggests-toward-end-ice-age-human-beings-witnessed-fires-larger-dinosaur |archive-date=2021-05-26 |name-list-style=vanc |website=]}}</ref> However, these claims of extraordinary fires are disputed by Holliday and others<ref>{{Cite Q |Q91978737 |author-link1=Vance T. Holliday |author-link3=Andrew Cunningham Scott |last1=Holliday |first1=Vance T. |last2=Bartlein |first2=Patrick J. |last3=Scott |first3=Andrew C. |last4=Marlon |first4=Jennifer R. |name-list-style=vanc}}</ref> with a response by Wolbach.<ref>{{Cite Q |Q91978742 |author-link11=Adrian Melott |author-link13=William Napier (astronomer) |author-link20=James P. Kennett |last1=Wolbach |first1=Wendy S. |last2=Ballard |first2=Joanne P. |last3=Mayewski |first3=Paul A. |last4=Kurbatov |first4=Andrei |last5=Bunch |first5=Ted E. |last6=LeCompte |first6=Malcolm A. |last7=Adedeji |first7=Victor |last8=Israde-Alcántara |first8=Isabel |last9=Firestone |first9=Richard B. |last10=Mahaney |first10=William C. |last11=Melott |first11=Adrian L. |last12=Moore |first12=Christopher R. |last13=Napier |first13=William M. |last14=Howard |first14=George A. |last15=Tankersley |first15=Kenneth B. |last16=Thomas |first16=Brian C. |last17=Wittke |first17=James H. |last18=Johnson |first18=John R. |last19=Mitra |first19=Siddhartha |last20=Kennett |first20=James P. |last21=Kletetschka |first21=Gunther |last22=West |first22=Allen |display-authors=8 |name-list-style=vanc}}</ref>

] et al. 2019{{hair space}}{{sfnp|Pino|Abarzúa|Astorga|Martel-Cea|2019}} showing 53 Younger Dryas boundary sites. Orange dots represent 28 sites with peaks in both platinum (Pt) and other impact proxies such as high-temperature Fe-rich spherules. Red dots represent 24 sites with impact proxies but lacking Pt measurements.]]
In 2019, Pino and others reported evidence in sediment layers with ] and pollen assemblages both indicating major disturbances at ], Chile in sediments dated to 12,800 BP.{{sfnp|Pino|Abarzúa|Astorga|Martel-Cea|2019}} This included rare metallic spherules, ] and ]s thought to have been produced during ]s or ].{{sfnp|Pino|Abarzúa|Astorga|Martel-Cea|2019}} Pilauco Bajo is the southernmost site where evidence of the Younger Dryas impacts has been reported. This has been interpreted as evidence that a ] from the Younger Dryas impact event may have affected at least 30% of Earth's radius.{{sfnp|Pino|Abarzúa|Astorga|Martel-Cea|2019}} Also in 2019, CR Moore and others reported analysis of age-dated sediments from a long-lived pond in South Carolina showed not just an overabundance of platinum but a platinum/palladium ratio inconsistent with a terrestrial origin, as well as an overabundance of soot and a decrease in fungal spores associated with the dung of large herbivores, suggesting large-scale regional wildfires and at least a local decrease in ice age megafauna.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Christopher R. |name-list-style=vanc |date=October 22, 2019 |title=New evidence that an extraterrestrial collision 12,800 years ago triggered an abrupt climate change for Earth |url=https://theconversation.com/new-evidence-that-an-extraterrestrial-collision-12-800-years-ago-triggered-an-abrupt-climate-change-for-earth-118244 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191023135255/http://theconversation.com/new-evidence-that-an-extraterrestrial-collision-12-800-years-ago-triggered-an-abrupt-climate-change-for-earth-118244 |archive-date=23 October 2019 |access-date=June 22, 2021 |website=]}}</ref>

In 2019, Thackery and others reported that a ~10 ppb platinum (Pt) enrichment in peat deposits at Wonderkrater in South Africa was associated with the YDB, although the age uncertainty range of the anomaly exceeded 2 thousand years.<ref>{{Cite Q |Q106978252 |author1-last=Thackeray |author1-first=J.F. |author2-last=Scott |author2-first=L. |author3-last=Pieterse |author3-first=P. |name-list-style=vanc}}</ref>

In 2019 research at White Pond near ], South Carolina, conducted by CR Moore from the ] and 16 colleagues, used a core to extract sediment samples from underneath the pond. The samples, dated by radiocarbon to the beginning of the Younger Dryas, were found to contain a large platinum anomaly, consistent with findings from other sites. A large soot anomaly was also found in cores from the site.<ref name="UofSC archaeologist">{{Cite press release |title=UofSC archaeologist finds evidence of extinction theory |date=2019-10-22 |url=https://www.sc.edu/uofsc/posts/2019/10/10_chris_moore_research.php |last1=Ward |first1=Carol J.G. |name-list-style=vanc |access-date=2021-08-07 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303115411/https://www.sc.edu/uofsc/posts/2019/10/10_chris_moore_research.php |archive-date=2021-03-03 |publisher=]}}</ref><ref name="SR-20191022">{{Cite journal |last1=Moore |first1=Christopher R. |last2=Brooks |first2=Mark J. |last3=Goodyear |first3=Albert C. |author-link3=Albert Goodyear |last4=Ferguson |first4=Terry A. |last5=Perrotti |first5=Angelina G. |last6=Mitra |first6=Siddhartha |last7=Listecki |first7=Ashlyn M. |last8=King |first8=Bailey C. |last9=Mallinson |first9=David J. |last10=Lane |first10=Chad S. |last11=Kapp |first11=Joshua D. |first12=Allen |last12=West |first13=David L. |last13=Carlson |first14=Wendy S. |last14=Wolbach |first15=Theodore R. |last15=Them II |first16=M. Scott |last16=Harris |first17=Sean |last17=Pyne-O’Donnell |display-authors=8 |name-list-style=vanc |date=22 October 2019 |title=Sediment Cores from White Pond, South Carolina, contain a Platinum Anomaly, Pyrogenic Carbon Peak, and Coprophilous Spore Decline at 12.8 ka |journal=] |volume=9 |bibcode=2019NatSR...915121M |doi=10.1038/s41598-019-51552-8 |pmc=6805854 |pmid=31641142 |doi-access=free |number=15121 (2019)|page=15121 }}</ref>

]{{hair space}}<ref name="Abu Hureyra">{{Cite Q|Q90119243|last1=Moore|first1=Andrew M. T.|author-link1=Andrew M. T. Moore|last2=Kennett|first2=James P.|author-link2=James P. Kennett|last3=Napier|first3=William M.|author-link3=William Napier (astronomer)|last4=Bunch|first4=Ted E.|last5=Weaver|first5=James C.|last6=LeCompte|first6=Malcolm|last7=Adedeji|first7=A. Victor|last8=Hackley|first8=Paul|last9=Kletetschka|first9=Gunther|last10=Hermes|first10=Robert E.|last11=Wittke|first11=James H.|last12=Razink|first12=Joshua J.|last13=Gaultois|first13=Michael W.|last14=West|first14=Allen|display-authors=8|name-list-style=vanc|quote=The wide range of evidence supports the hypothesis that a cosmic event occurred at Abu Hureyra ~12,800 years ago, coeval with impacts that deposited high-temperature meltglass, melted microspherules, and/or platinum at other YDB sites on four continents.|date=Mar 6, 2020}}</ref>]]

In 2020, a group led by Allen West reported high concentrations of iridium, platinum, nickel, and cobalt at the Younger Dryas boundary in material from ]. They concluded that the evidence supports the impact hypothesis,<ref name="Abu Hureyra"/><ref>{{Cite press release |title=Fire from the Sky |date=2020-03-06 |url=https://www.news.ucsb.edu/2020/019823/fire-sky |quote=Based on materials collected before the site was flooded, Kennett and his colleagues contend Abu Hureyra is the first site to document the direct effects of a fragmented comet on a human settlement.|last1=Fernandez |first1=Sonia |name-list-style=vanc |access-date=2021-08-07 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210706231340/https://www.news.ucsb.edu/2020/019823/fire-sky |archive-date=2021-07-06 |publisher=]}}</ref> but this was quickly contradicted by another study calling the YDIH into question because the samples were extremely unlikely to have been deposited at the same time.<ref>{{cite journal |display-authors=etal|last1=Hai Cheng |title=Timing and structure of the Younger Dryas event and its underlying climate dynamics |journal=] |date=Sep 8, 2020 |volume=117 |issue=38 |pages=23408–23417 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2007869117 |doi-access=free |pmid=32900942 |pmc=7519346 |bibcode=2020PNAS..11723408C |hdl=10261/240073 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Since all samples from the site were expended, the findings cannot be confirmed.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Moore |first1=Andrew M. T. |author-link1=Andrew M. T. Moore |last2=Kennett |first2=James P. |author-link2=James P. Kennett |last3=Napier |first3=William M. |author-link3=William Napier (astronomer) |last4=Bunch |first4=Ted E. |last5=Weaver |first5=James C. |last6=LeCompte |first6=Malcolm |last7=Adedeji |first7=A. Victor |last8=Hackley |first8=Paul |last9=Kletetschka |first9=Gunther |last10=Hermes |first10=Robert E. |last11=Wittke |first11=James H. |last12=Razink |first12=Joshua J. |last13=Gaultois |first13=Michael W. |last14=West |first14=Allen |display-authors=8 |name-list-style=vanc |title= Evidence of cosmic impact at Abu Hureyra, Syria at theYounger Dryas Onset (~12.8 ka): High-temperature melting at >2200 °C |url= https://pubpeer.com/publications/CB9BF60F18A553088BEFB061164940 |access-date=2023-11-05 |website=PubPeer|date=6 March 2020 }}</ref>

In 2022, a paper by geologist ], a YDIH proponent, claimed that opponents had prematurely rejected YDIH,<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Powell |first=James Lawrence |date=January 2022 |title=Premature rejection in science: The case of the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis |journal=Science Progress |language=en |volume=105 |issue=1 |pages=003685042110642 |doi=10.1177/00368504211064272 |issn=0036-8504 |pmc=10450282 |pmid=34986034}}</ref> detailing the example of research published by Firestone and others in 2001<ref name=":4" /> and the inability of a later study by Surovell and others in 2009<ref name=":3" /> that was unable to reproduce these results leading a number of other scientists to reject YDIH.<ref name=":5" />{{Rp|location=Table 4}} Powell argues that since then, many independent studies have reproduced that evidence at dozens of YD sites.<ref name=":5" />

A March 2023 article by planetary impact physicist ] and YDIH opponent stated that "...the YDIH has never been accepted by experts in any related field" because it is "plagued by self contradictions, logical fallacies, basic misunderstandings, misidentified impact evidence, abandoned claims, irreproducible results, questionable protocols, lack of disclosure, secretiveness, failed predictions, contaminated samples, pseudoscientific arguments, physically impossible mechanisms, and misrepresentations".<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Boslough |first1=Mark |date=March 2023 |title=Apocalypse! Why Graham Hancock's use of the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis in his Netflix series Ancient Apocalypse is all wet|url=https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/graham-hancocks-ancient-apocalypse-hypothesis-put-to-test/ |journal=Skeptic Magazine |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=51–59}}</ref>

{{Self-reference cleanup|date=March 2024}}
In July 2023 Holliday and others published a comprehensive refutation of the YDIH<ref name=":1" /> that collected and summarized many of the positions from opponents to YDIH publications mentioned in the above history. Sections in this article refute the areas of evidence regarding ],<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|location=Sec. 8-12}} ]<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|location=Sec. 6}} ],<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|location=Sec. 3.2}} ],<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|location=Sec. 3.1}} the ].<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|location=Sec. 7}} Also criticized were fundamental assumptions,<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|location=Sec. 3}} flawed sampling,<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|location=Sec. 4}} inadequate dating,<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|location=Sec. 5}} Pseudoarchaeological divined date of the impact event,<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|location=Sec. 5.2}} pseudoscience (fringe) evidence and conjecture,<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|location=Sec. 14}} issues with other YDIH claims, such as the Carolina bays,<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|location=Sec. 13.1}} contradictory results when different groups have examined the same sample specimens,<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|location=Sec. 14}} and unparalleled promotion of YDIH outside of scientific literature.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|location=Sec. 14}} The paper also responded to and critiqued assertions from Powell.<ref name=":2" /><!-- Need to add other references for Powell 2014, and others. --> The paper concludes that since "YDIH evolved directly from pseudoscience, the initial publication in scientific literature was seriously plagued by poorly documented interpretations and baseless assertions." and lists 11 serious flaws that persist in YDIH.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|location=Sec. 17}}

In a December 2023 article by CR Moore and others<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Moore |first1=Christopher R. |last2=Brooks |first2=Mark J. |last3=Dunbar |first3=James S. |last4=Hemmings |first4=C. Andrew |last5=Langworthy |first5=Kurt A. |last6=West |first6=Allen |last7=LeCompte |first7=Malcolm A. |last8=Adedeji |first8=Victor |last9=Kennett |first9=James P. |last10=Feathers |first10=James K. |date=2023-12-20 |title=Platinum and microspherule peaks as chronostratigraphic markers for onset of the Younger Dryas at Wakulla Springs, Florida |journal=Scientific Reports |language=en |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=22738 |doi=10.1038/s41598-023-50074-8 |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=10733423 |pmid=38123649|bibcode=2023NatSR..1322738M }}</ref> stated that "anomalous peak abundances of platinum and Fe-rich microspherules with high-temperature minerals have previously been demonstrated to be a chronostratigraphic marker for the lower Younger Dryas Boundary (YDB) dating to 12.8 ka," was found in sediments at Wakulla Springs, Florida. "The study confirms the utility of this YDB datum layer for intersequence correlation and for assessing relative ages of Paleoamerican artifacts, including those of likely Clovis, pre-Clovis, and post-Clovis age and their possible responses to environmental changes known to have occurred during the Younger Dryas cool climatic episode."

== In popular culture ==
The impact hypothesis has been the subject of documentaries,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Balter |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Balter |name-list-style=vanc |date=2014-05-12 |title=What Caused a 1300-Year Deep Freeze? |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/what-caused-1300-year-deep-freeze |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220425133559/https://www.science.org/content/article/what-caused-1300-year-deep-freeze |archive-date=2022-04-25 |access-date=2021-08-21 |website=] |quote=The notion was popularized in television documentaries and other coverage on the National Geographic Channel, History Channel, and the PBS program NOVA.}}</ref> including ''Mammoth Mystery'' on ] (2007),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2007-10-07 |title=Mammoth Mystery |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1118275/ |access-date=2021-08-20 |website=]}}</ref> ''Journey to 10,000 BC'' on the ] (2008),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008 |title=Journey to 10,000 BC |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1203519/ |access-date=2021-08-20 |website=]}}</ref> '']'' on ] (2008), and ''Megabeasts' Sudden Death'' on ] (2009).{{efn|Megabeasts Sudden Death was removed from online streaming after NOVA WGBH learned about problems with the hypothesis and data discrancies.<ref name=":1" />}}<ref>{{cite AV media |url= https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e6APBjExE0E |website=YouTube|title= Megabeasts Sudden Death, PBS NOVA 2009|year=2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-03-31 |title=Megabeasts' Sudden Death |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1393568/ |access-date=2021-08-20 |website=]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-03-31 |title=Megabeasts' Sudden Death |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/last-extinction.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612071305/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/last-extinction.html |archive-date=2021-06-12 |access-date=2021-08-20 |website=]}}</ref>

] argued in his 2015 book '']'' that the Younger Dryas comet destroyed the earth in a time cycle and that it was responsible for the ]. He inferred that this myth was widespread elsewhere on earth by comparing it with the flood mythology of ].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Taube |first=Michael |name-list-style=vanc |date=December 30, 2015 |title=Book Review - Magicians of the Gods |url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/dec/30/book-review-magicians-of-the-gods/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120225320/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/dec/30/book-review-magicians-of-the-gods/ |archive-date=20 January 2021 |access-date=14 January 2021 |website=]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-09-03 |title=MAGICIANS OF THE GODS by Graham Hancock |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/graham-hancock/magicians-of-the-gods/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120231351/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/graham-hancock/magicians-of-the-gods/ |archive-date=20 January 2021 |access-date=14 January 2021 |website=]}}</ref> These claims were criticized as inaccurate by independent reviewers, including ], ], and Marc J. Defant.{{efn|name=POV}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Colavito |first=Jason |author-link=Jason Colavito |name-list-style=vanc |title=Magicians of the Gods Review |url=http://www.jasoncolavito.com/magicians-of-the-gods-review.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205051354/http://www.jasoncolavito.com/magicians-of-the-gods-review.html |archive-date=5 December 2020 |access-date=2017-11-16 |website=Jason Colavito}}</ref><ref name="SA">{{Cite news |last=Shermer |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Shermer |name-list-style=vanc |date=1 June 2017 |title=No, There Wasn't an Advanced Civilization 12,000 Years Ago |publisher=] |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/no-there-wasnt-an-advanced-civilization-12-000-years-ago/ |url-status=live |access-date=28 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220132025/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/no-there-wasnt-an-advanced-civilization-12-000-years-ago/ |archive-date=2022-02-20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Defant |first=Marc J. |name-list-style=vanc |date=September 1, 2017 |title=Conjuring Up a Lost Civilization: An Analysis of the Claims Made by Graham Hancock in Magicians of the Gods |url=https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/defant-analysis-of-hancock-claims-in-magicians-of-the-gods/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427141018/https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/defant-analysis-of-hancock-claims-in-magicians-of-the-gods/ |archive-date=27 April 2021 |access-date=27 April 2021 |website=]}}</ref> Hancock expanded on his claims in a subsequent book, ''America Before: The Key to Earth's Lost Civilization'' (2019), in which he claimed that the Younger Dryas catastrophe had wiped out all traces of a sophisticated Ice Age civilization in North America.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Casci |first=Mark |name-list-style=vanc |date=2019-03-29 |title=Fresh clues in the hunt for a lost civilization - Graham Hancock interview |work=] |url=https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/fresh-clues-hunt-lost-civilization-graham-hancock-interview-1757617 |url-status=live |access-date=2022-04-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220109140107/https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/fresh-clues-hunt-lost-civilization-graham-hancock-interview-1757617 |archive-date=2022-01-09}}</ref>

In 2017, a debate was held on the '']'' between proponents{{Clarify|date=December 2022|reason=Are these all proponents of Hancock's Noah's Flood idea, or just of the impact hypothesis?}} Graham Hancock, Randall Carlson, and Malcolm A. LeCompte and opponents Michael Shermer and Marc J. Defant.{{efn|name=POV|Both ] and Marc J. Defant have since indicated that they accept the impact hypothesis.<ref name="Shermer YDIH">{{Cite tweet |user=michaelshermer |author=Michael Shermer |author-link=Michael Shermer |number=1237559469967421440 |title=Ok @Graham__Hancock I shall adjust my priors in light of more research like this, and modify my credence about your theory... 'Evidence of Cosmic Impact at Abu Hureyra, Syria at the Younger Dryas Onset (~12.8 ka): High-temperature melting at >2200 °C' https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-60867-w}}</ref><ref name="Defant YDIH">{{Cite web |last=Defant |first=Marc J. |name-list-style=vanc |date=2020-06-05 |title=The Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis |url=https://www.marcdefant.com/2020/06/05/the-younger-dryas-impact-hypothesis/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126095442/https://www.marcdefant.com/2020/06/05/the-younger-dryas-impact-hypothesis/ |archive-date=2021-01-26 |access-date=2021-06-06 |quote= is a superb book and has absolutely convinced me there were comet airbursts at the Younger Dryas.}}</ref>}}<ref name="JRE #961">{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFlAFo78xoQ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/tFlAFo78xoQ |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live |title=Joe Rogan Experience #961 - Graham Hancock, Randall Carlson & Michael Shermer |date=May 16, 2017 |last1=Rogan |first1=Joe |author-link1=Joe Rogan |last2=Hancock |first2=Graham |author-link2=Graham Hancock |last3=Carlson |first3=Randall |last4=Shermer |first4=Michael |author-link4=Michael Shermer |last5=Defant |first5=Marc J. |last6=LeCompte |first6=Malcolm A |name-list-style=vanc |time=2:06:55 |publisher=]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The week that the podcast was released, the network was reportedly averaging over 120 million downloads a month.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shermer |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Shermer |name-list-style=vanc |title=Debating Science and Lost Civilizations |url=https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/debating-science-lost-civilizations-shermer-experience-on-joe-rogan-961/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629202546/https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/debating-science-lost-civilizations-shermer-experience-on-joe-rogan-961/ |archive-date=2021-06-29 |access-date=2021-08-20 |website=] |date=23 April 2019 |quote=According to Joe, as of that week he was averaging over 120 million downloads a month, putting him on a par with the biggest talk show hosts on television, either cable or broadcast.}}</ref>

A 2021 episode of the ] series ''Ancient Unexplained Files'' had a segment on the evidence from Abu Hureyra;<ref name="Abu Hureyra" /> geoscientist ] also described the impact hypothesis as a whole.<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Gladiator Graveyard |url=https://www.facebook.com/ScienceChannel/videos/abu-hurayrah-ancient-unexplained-files/187455772937732/ <!-- https://twitter.com/ScienceChannel/status/1373795607060619269 --> <!-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55Qa2MhUD9Y --> |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/55Qa2MhUD9Y |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|series=Ancient Unexplained Files |date=March 22, 2021 |season=1 |number=6 |time=12:40 |last1=Bellinger |first1=Karen |last2=Szulgit |first2=Greg |last3=Wright |first3=Jacob L. |author-link3=Jacob L. Wright |last4=Proctor |first4=Sian |author-link4=Sian Proctor |name-list-style=vanc |publisher=]}}{{cbignore}} ] ].</ref>

In 2022 Graham Hancock presented in a Netflix series titled ], with episode 8 specifically covering the YDIH. In March 2023 Mark Boslough published a commentary in ] with the conclusion that many attributes of the series are pseudoscience.<ref name=":0" />


== See also == == See also ==
* {{annotated link|Carolina bays}}
* ]
* {{annotated link|Murray Springs Clovis Site}}
* ]
* {{annotated link|Shiva hypothesis}}
* ]
* {{annotated link|Taurids}}
* ]
* {{annotated link|Tollmann's bolide hypothesis}}
* ]
* ] and ] - two examples of meteors exploding in the atmosphere
* ]

== Footnotes ==
{{notelist|50em}}


== References == == References ==
=== Citations ===
{{reflist|2}}
{{Reflist|2}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{sfn whitelist|CITEREFPowell2022}}
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Pino |first1=Mario |author-link=Mario Pino Quivira |last2=Abarzúa |first2=Ana M. |last3=Astorga |first3=Giselle |last4=Martel-Cea |first4=Alejandra |last5=Cossio-Montecinos |first5=Nathalie |last6=Navarro |first6=R. Ximena |last7=Lira |first7=Maria Paz |last8=Labarca |first8=Rafael |last9=LeCompte |first9=Malcolm A. |last10=Adedeji |first10=Victor |last11=Moore |first11=Christopher R. |last12=Bunch |first12=Ted E. |last13=Mooney |first13=Charles |last14=Wolbach |first14=Wendy S. |last15=West |first15=Allen |last16=Kennett |first16=James P. |author-link16=James P. Kennett |display-authors=8 |name-list-style=vanc |date=13 March 2019 |title=Sedimentary record from Patagonia, southern Chile supports cosmic-impact triggering of biomass burning, climate change, and megafaunal extinctions at 12.8 ka |journal=] |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=4413 |bibcode=2019NatSR...9.4413P |doi=10.1038/s41598-018-38089-y |pmc=6416299 |pmid=30867437}}
* {{Cite Q |Q110444998 |last=Powell |first=James Lawrence |author-link=James L. Powell |name-list-style=vanc}} <!-- 5 January 2022 -->
* {{Cite journal |last1=Sun |first1=N. |last2=Brandon |first2=A. D. |last3=Forman |first3=S. L. |last4=Waters |first4=M. R. |author-link4=Michael R. Waters |last5=Befus |first5=K. S. |name-list-style=vanc |date=1 July 2020 |title=Volcanic origin for Younger Dryas geochemical anomalies ca. 12,900 cal B.P. |journal=] |volume=6 |issue=31 |pages=eaax8587 |bibcode=2020SciA....6.8587S |doi=10.1126/sciadv.aax8587 |issn=2375-2548 |pmc=7399481 |pmid=32789166}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite news |last=Bentley |first=Molly |name-list-style=vanc |date=2009-01-02 |title=Diamond clues to beasts' demise |work=] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7808171.stm |url-status=live |access-date=15 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100903164436/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7808171.stm |archive-date=3 September 2010}}
* {{Cite web |last=Bressan |first=David |name-list-style=vanc |date=27 July 2011 |title=The Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis |url=http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/2011/07/27/the-younger-dryas-impact-hypothesis/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130315103904/http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/2011/07/27/the-younger-dryas-impact-hypothesis/ |archive-date=15 March 2013 |access-date=15 April 2012 |publisher=Scientific American Blog Network}}
* {{Cite web |last=Fernandez |first=Sonia |name-list-style=vanc |date=May 21, 2013 |title=Comprehensive Analysis of Impact Spherules Supports Theory of Cosmic Impact 12,800 Years Ago |url=https://www.news.ucsb.edu/2013/013537/comprehensive-analysis-impact-spherules-supports-theory-cosmic-impact-12800-years-ago |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216003210/https://www.news.ucsb.edu/2013/013537/comprehensive-analysis-impact-spherules-supports-theory-cosmic-impact-12800-years-ago |archive-date=2021-02-16 |access-date=2021-06-24 |publisher=UC Santa Barbara}}
*{{Cite news |last=Firestone |first=Richard B. |name-list-style=vanc |date=24 July 2019 |title=Disappearance of Ice Age Megafauna and the Younger Dryas Impact |work=Capeia |url=https://beta.capeia.com/planetary-science/2019/06/03/disappearance-of-ice-age-megafauna-and-the-younger-dryas-impact |url-status=live |access-date=2021-06-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410041144/https://beta.capeia.com/planetary-science/2019/06/03/disappearance-of-ice-age-megafauna-and-the-younger-dryas-impact |archive-date=2021-04-10}}
* {{Cite web |last=Hoffman |first=Carey |name-list-style=vanc |date=2 July 2008 |title=Exploding Asteroid Theory Strengthened by New Evidence Located in Ohio, Indiana |url=http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.asp?id=8625 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080731170933/http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.asp?id=8625 |archive-date=31 July 2008 |access-date=5 August 2008 |publisher=University of Cincinnati}}
* {{Cite web |author-link=Vance T. Holliday |year=2011 |title=A Cosmic Catastrophe: The Great Clovis Comet Debate: A personal perspective on an Outrageous Hypothesis |url=http://www.argonaut.arizona.edu/Clovis_Comet_Debate.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305031317/http://www.argonaut.arizona.edu/Clovis_Comet_Debate.html |archive-date=5 March 2016 |access-date=14 July 2011 |website=Argonaut Archaeological Research Fund |publisher=Department of Anthropology at the University of Arizona, University of Arizona |location=Tucson, Arizona |vauthors=Holliday VT}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Pringle |first=Heather |author-link=Heather Pringle (writer) |name-list-style=vanc |date=23 May 2007 |title=Firestorm from space wiped out prehistoric Americans |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19426052.900 |url-status=live |journal=New Scientist |volume=194 |issue=2605 |pages=8–9 |doi=10.1016/S0262-4079(07)61277-9 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120914152028/http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19426052.900 |archive-date=14 September 2012 |access-date=19 September 2017}}
*{{cite journal |first=Martin B. |last=Sweatman |title=The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis: Review of the impact evidence |journal=] |volume=218 |date=July 2021 |page=103677 |issn=0012-8252 |doi=10.1016/j.earscirev.2021.103677 |bibcode=2021ESRv..21803677S |s2cid=236231169 |url=https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/files/209288439/The_Younger_Dryas_impact_hypothesis_MBS.pdf }}

;Presentations of the American Geophysical Union

* {{Cite web |date=2009-12-16 |title=Younger Dryas Boundary: Extraterrestrial Impact or Not II |url=http://www.georgehoward.net/ORAL%20Younger%20Dryas%20Boundary%20Extraterrestrial%20Impact%20or%20Not%20FALL%20AGU.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206151647/http://www.georgehoward.net/ORAL%20Younger%20Dryas%20Boundary%20Extraterrestrial%20Impact%20or%20Not%20FALL%20AGU.pdf |archive-date=6 February 2012 |access-date=15 April 2012 |location=American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California}}
* {{Cite web |date=2009-12-16 |title=Younger Dryas Boundary: Extraterrestrial Impact or Not I |url=http://www.georgehoward.net/POSTER%20Younger%20Dryas%20Boundary%20Extraterrestrial%20Impact%20or%20Not%20FALL%20AGU.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200423030516/http://www.georgehoward.net/POSTER%20Younger%20Dryas%20Boundary%20Extraterrestrial%20Impact%20or%20Not%20FALL%20AGU.pdf |archive-date=23 April 2020 |access-date=24 June 2021 |location=American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California}}


;''Mammoth Trumpet''
==External reading==
An extensive series of articles was published in '''', the magazine for ]'s Center for the Study of the First Americans, featuring conversations with many {{abbr|YDIH|Younger Dryas impact hypothesis}} proponents and opponents:
* James Kennett, UC Santa Barbara, May 21, 2013,
*{{Cite Q |Q107225241 |last=Largent |first=Floyd |name-list-style=vanc |title=The Clovis Comet - Part I: Evidence for a Cosmic Collision 12,900 Years Ago}}
*Holliday, V. T., 2011, , Department of Anthropology at the University of Arizona, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.
*{{Cite Q |Q107226201 |last=Largent |first=Floyd |name-list-style=vanc |title=The Clovis Comet - Part II: What the Data Tell Us}}
*Pringle, H., 2008, . The New Scientist. vol. 194, no. 2605, pp.&nbsp;8–9.
*{{Cite Q |Q107226305 |last=Largent |first=Floyd |name-list-style=vanc |title=The Clovis Comet - Part III: The Implications}}
*West, A., and A. Goodyear, 2008, Mammoth Trumpet. v. 23, no. 1, pp.&nbsp;1–4.
*{{Cite Q |Q107226371 |last=Largent |first=Floyd |name-list-style=vanc |title=The Clovis Comet - Part IV: The Scientific Community Responds}}
*{{Cite Q |Q107228406 |last=Lepper |first=Bradley |name-list-style=vanc |title=Fire Record Undercuts Clovis Comet Theory}}
*{{Cite Q |Q107228547 |last=Largent |first=Floyd |name-list-style=vanc |title=The Clovis Comet Revisited - In the Crucible of Scientific Inquiry}}
*{{Cite Q |Q107228612 |last=Largent |first=Floyd |name-list-style=vanc |title=The Clovis Comet Revisited - The Nanodiamond Controversy, Part I}}
*{{Cite Q |Q107228963 |last=Largent |first=Floyd |name-list-style=vanc |title=The Clovis Comet Revisited - The Nanodiamond Controversy, Part II: A Case of Mistaken Identity?}}
*{{Cite Q |Q107229168 |last=Largent |first=Floyd |name-list-style=vanc |title=The Clovis Comet - The Cratering Evidence}}
*{{Cite Q |Q107229501 |last=Largent |first=Floyd |name-list-style=vanc |title=The Clovis Comet - New Developments in the Proxy Evidence, Part I}}
*{{Cite Q |Q107230043 |last=Largent |first=Floyd |name-list-style=vanc |title=The Clovis Comet - New Developments in the Proxy Evidence, Part II}}
*{{Cite Q |Q107230085 |last=Largent |first=Floyd |name-list-style=vanc |title=The Clovis Comet - New Developments in the Proxy Evidence, Part III}}
{{refend}}


==External links== == External links ==
{{Scholia}}
*{{cite web |title=Younger Dryas Boundary: Extraterrestrial Impact or Not|url=http://www.georgehoward.net/ORAL%20Younger%20Dryas%20Boundary%20Extraterrestrial%20Impact%20or%20Not%20FALL%20AGU.pdf |publisher=www.georgehoward.net |format=pdf |work= |accessdate=2012-04-15}}
* {{Commons category-inline}}
*{{cite web |title=Younger Dryas Boundary: Extraterrestrial Impact or Not?|url=http://www.georgehoward.net/POSTER%20Younger%20Dryas%20Boundary%20Extraterrestrial%20Impact%20or%20Not%20FALL%20AGU.pdf |publisher=www.georgehoward.net |format=pdf |work= |accessdate=2012-04-15}}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.asp?id=8625|title=Exploding Asteroid Theory Strengthened by New Evidence Located in Ohio, Indiana|last=Hoffman|first=Carey|date=2008-07-02|publisher=University of Cincinnati|accessdate=2008-08-05}}
*{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7808171.stm |publisher=BBC NEWS|title=Science & Environment: Diamond clues to beasts' demise |format= |work= |accessdate=2012-04-15}}
*{{cite web |url=http://sciencythoughts.blogspot.com/2012/03/evidence-for-younger-dryas-impact-event.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SciencyThoughts+%28Sciency+Thoughts%29 |title=Sciency Thoughts: Evidence for a Younger Dryas impact event? |format= |work= |accessdate=2012-04-15}}
*{{cite web |url=http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/2011/07/27/the-younger-dryas-impact-hypothesis/ |title=The Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis |publisher=Scientific American Blog Network |format= |work= |accessdate=2012-04-15}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/New_Clovis_Age_Comet_Impact_Theory_999.html |title=New Clovis-Age Comet Impact Theory |work= |accessdate=2012-04-15}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Younger Dryas Event}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Younger Dryas Event}}
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Latest revision as of 12:31, 19 December 2024

Hypothesis on what initiated the Younger Dryas climatic period (stadial)
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The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH) proposes that the onset of the Younger Dryas (YD) cool period (stadial) at the end of the Last Glacial Period, around 12,900 years ago was the result of some kind of cosmic event with specific details varying between publications. The hypothesis is widely rejected by relevant experts. It is influenced by creationism, and has been compared to cold fusion by its critics due to the lack of reproducibility of results. It is an alternative to the long-standing and widely accepted explanation that the Younger Dryas was caused by a significant reduction in, or shutdown of the North Atlantic Conveyor due to a sudden influx of freshwater from Lake Agassiz and deglaciation in North America.

In 2007, the first YDIH paper speculated that a comet airburst over North America created a Younger Dryas boundary (YDB) layer; however, inconsistencies have been identified in other published results. Authors have not yet responded to requests for clarification and have never made their raw data available. Some YDIH proponents have also proposed that this event triggered extensive biomass burning, a brief impact winter that destabilized the Atlantic Conveyor and triggered the Younger Dryas instance of abrupt climate change which contributed to extinctions of late Pleistocene megafauna, and resulted in the disappearance of the Clovis culture.

Comet research group

The Comet research group (CRG), dedicated to investigating the YDIH, was established in 2016 by Allen West (and others). Their stated mission is to "find evidence about comet impacts and raise awareness about them before your city is next."

The credibility and motivations of individual CRG researchers have been questioned by critics of the impact hypothesis, including their specific claims for evidence in support of the YDIH and/or the effects of meteor air bursts or impact events on ancient settlements, people, and environments. Doubts have been raised about several of the CRG's other claims.; for example a 2021 paper suggested that a Tunguska-sized or larger airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, a Middle Bronze Age city located in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea around 1650 BCE. Image forensics expert Elisabeth Bik discovered evidence for digital alteration of images used as evidence for the claim that the village of Tall el-Hammam was engulfed by an airburst. CRG members initially denied tampering with the photos but eventually published a correction in which they admitted to inappropriate image manipulation. Five of the paper's 53 images received retouching to remove labels and arrows present in other published versions of the photos, which Bik believed to be a possible conflict with Scientific Reports' image submission guidelines but was not in itself a disproval of the Tall el-Hammam airburst theory. Subsequent concerns that have been brought up in PubPeer have not yet been addressed by the CRG, including discrepancies between claimed blast wave direction compared to what the images show, unavailability of original image data to independent researchers, lack of supporting evidence for conclusions, inappropriate reliance on young Earth creationist literature, misinformation about the Tunguska explosion, and another uncorrected example of an inappropriately altered image. On February 15, 2023, the following editor’s note was posted on this paper: "Readers are alerted that concerns raised about the data presented and the conclusions of this article are being considered by the Editors. A further editorial response will follow the resolution of these issues." On August 30, 2023, a paper authored by a CRG member and leading YDIH advocate was retracted by Scientific Reports. The journal's Retraction Note cited a publication "indicating that the study does not provide data to support the claims of an airburst event or that such an event led to the decline of the Hopewell culture."

Evidence

Proponents believe that certain microscopic debris is evidence of impact and that "black mats" of sediment are evidence of widespread fires. They contend that extinction of megafauna was synchronous with associated effects on prehistoric human societies. They say that their observations and interpretations cannot be adequately explained by volcanic, anthropogenic, or other natural processes. They argue that there is a synchronous Younger Dryas boundary layer that should be used as a local, or even global stratigraphic marker. Archaeologist Stuart J Fiedel has remarked that "The bolide and its effects have been characterized inconsistently from one paper to the next, which makes this hypothesis difficult to refute." In 2011, a review of the evidence led researchers to state "The YD impact hypothesis provides a cautionary tale for researchers, the scientific community, the press, and the broader public" as "none of the original YD impact signatures have been subsequently corroborated by independent tests. Of the 12 original lines of evidence, seven have so far proven to be non-reproducible. The remaining signatures instead seem to represent either (1) non-catastrophic mechanisms, and/or (2) terrestrial rather than extraterrestrial or impact-related sources. In all of these cases, sparse but ubiquitous materials seem to have been misreported and misinterpreted as singular peaks at the onset of the YD. Throughout the arc of this hypothesis, recognized and expected impact markers were not found, leading to proposed YD impactors and impact processes that were novel, self-contradictory, rapidly changing, and sometimes defying the laws of physics." Additionally, a comprehensive refutation of the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis was published in 2023, stating "There is no support for the basic premise of the YDIH that human populations were diminished, and individual species of late Pleistocene megafauna became extinct or were diminished due to catastrophe." Another example is that of extensive wildfires claimed by some YDIH proponents that has been refuted by experts.  "Evidence and arguments purported to support the YDIH involve flawed methodologies, inappropriate assumptions, questionable conclusions, misstatements of fact, misleading information, unsupported claims, irreproducible observations, logical fallacies, and selected omission of contrary information."

Hypothetical impact markers

Proponents have reported materials including nanodiamonds, metallic microspherules, carbon spherules, magnetic spherules, iridium, platinum, platinum/palladium ratios, charcoal, soot, and fullerenes enriched with helium-3 that they interpret as evidence for an impact event that marks the beginning of the Younger Dryas. One of the most widely publicized discoveries (nanodiamonds in Greenland) has never been verified and is disputed.

Some scientists have asserted that the carbon spherules originated as fungal structures and/or insect fecal pellets, and contained modern contaminants and that the claimed nanodiamonds are actually misidentified graphene and graphene/graphane oxide aggregates. A patent application by Allen West and James Kennett in 2009 for methods of forming nanodiamonds based on research in support of the impact hypothesis also likely misidentified Copper and Copper oxides and appears to have since been abandoned. Iridium, magnetic minerals, microspherules, carbon, and nanodiamonds are all subject to differing interpretations as to their nature and origin, and may be explained in many cases by purely terrestrial or non-catastrophic factors. An analysis of a similar Younger Dryas boundary layer in Belgium yielded carbon crystalline structures such as nanodiamonds, but the authors concluded that they also did not show unique evidence for a bolide impact. An independent group of researchers reported much lower concentrations of platinum group metals in the purported boundary layer (by a factor of 30 for iridium). The original authors argued that these concentrations were still >300% (a factor of 3) above background in 2 of their samples. Another group was unable to confirm prior claims of magnetic particles and microspherules in 2009. Other studies involving YDIH proponents found concentrations of magnetic spherules but not all were associated with the YDB and not all were attributed to an ET event.

"Black mats"

The evidence given by proponents of a bolide or meteorite impact event includes "black mats", or strata of organic-rich soil that have been identified at about 50 archaeological sites across North America. Using statistical analysis and modeling, James P. Kennett and others concluded that widely separated organic-rich layers, including black mats, were deposited synchronously across multiple continents as an identifiable Younger Dryas boundary layer. In 2019, Jorgeson and others tested this conclusion with the simulation of radiocarbon ages. They accounted for measurement error, calibration uncertainty, "old wood" effects, and laboratory measurement biases, and compared against the dataset of radiocarbon ages for the Laacher See eruption. They found the Laacher See 14C dataset to be consistent with expectations of synchroneity. They found the Younger Dryas boundary layer 14C dataset to be inconsistent with the expectations for its synchroneity, and the synchronous global deposition of the hypothesized Younger Dryas boundary layer to be extremely unlikely.

Marlon et al. suggest that wildfires were a consequence of rapid climate change. "The changes in woody biomass, fire frequency, and biomass burning are not coincident with changes in CO2, although increasing CO2 may have contributed to woody biomass production during the early part of the Bølling–Allerød. Clovis people appeared in North America between 13.4 and 12.8 ka, broadly coincident with the sharp increase in biomass burning at 13.2 ka, and then rapidly spread out across the continent."

Radiocarbon dating, microscopy of paleobotanical samples, and analytical pyrolysis of fluvial sediments in Arlington Canyon on Santa Rosa Island by another group found no evidence of lonsdaleite or impact-induced fires. Research published in 2012 has shown that the so-called "black mats" are easily explained by typical earth processes in wetland environments. This study of black mats, that are common in prehistorical wetland deposits which represent shallow marshlands, that were from 6000 to 40,000 years ago in the southwestern USA and Atacama Desert in Chile, showed elevated concentrations of iridium and magnetic sediments, magnetic spherules and titanomagnetite grains. It was suggested that because these markers are found within or at the base of black mats, irrespective of age or location, they likely arise from processes common to arid-climate wetland systems and not as a result of catastrophic bolide impacts.

Researchers have also criticized the conclusions of various studies for incorrect age-dating of the sediments, contamination by modern carbon, inconsistent hypothesis that made it difficult to predict the type and size of bolide, lack of proper identification of lonsdaleite, confusing an extraterrestrial impact with other causes such as fire, and for inconsistent use of the carbon spherule "proxy". Naturally occurring lonsdaleite has also been identified in non-bolide diamond placer deposits in the Sakha Republic.

Extinction of megafauna

There is evidence that the megafaunal extinctions that occurred across northern Eurasia, North America, and South America at the end of the Pleistocene were not synchronous. The extinctions in South America appear to have occurred at least 400 years after the extinctions in North America. The extinction of woolly mammoths in Siberia also appears to have occurred later than in North America. A greater disparity in extinction timings is apparent in island megafaunal extinctions that lagged nearby continental extinctions by thousands of years; examples include the survival of woolly mammoths on Wrangel Island, Russia, until 3700 BP, and the survival of ground sloths in the Antilles, the Caribbean, until 4700 cal BP. The Australian megafaunal extinctions occurred approximately 30,000 years earlier than the hypothetical Younger Dryas event.

The megafaunal extinction pattern observed in North America poses a problem for the bolide impact scenario since it raises the question of why large mammals should be preferentially exterminated over small mammals or other vertebrates. Additionally, some extant megafaunal species such as bison and brown bear seem to have been little affected by the extinction event, while the environmental devastation caused by a bolide impact would not be expected to discriminate. Also, it appears that there was a collapse in North American megafaunal population from 14,800 to 13,700 BP, well before the date of the hypothetical extraterrestrial impact, possibly from anthropogenic activities, including hunting.

A group in the Netherlands examined carbon-14 dates for charcoal particles that showed wildfires occurred well after the proposed impact date, and the glass-like carbon was produced by wildfires and no lonsdaleite was found. Research at the Atacama Desert in Chile showed that silicate surface glasses were formed during at least two distinct periods at the end of the Pleistocene, separated by several hundred years.

Impact on human societies

A study of Paleoindian demography found no evidence of a population decline among the Paleoindians at 12,900 ± 100 BP, which was inconsistent with predictions of an impact event, suggesting that the hypothesis would probably need to be revised. A critique of this paper concluded that these results were an insensitive, low-fidelity population proxy incapable of detecting demographic change. The authors of a subsequent paper described three approaches to population dynamics in the Younger Dryas in North America, and concluded that there had been a significant decline and/or reorganisation in human population early in this period. The same paper also shows an apparent resurgence in population and/or settlements in the later Younger Dryas. A 2022 study by an independent group presents genomic evidence that a previously unidentified pre-18,000 BP South American population suffered a major disruption at the Younger Dryas onset, resulting in a significant loss of lineages and a Y chromosome bottleneck.

Hiawatha crater

Hiawatha crater
NASA digital elevation model with the ice sheet removed to show the surface of bedrock in the region around the Hiawatha Glacier

A 2018 paper reported the discovery of an impact crater under the Hiawatha Glacier in Greenland of unknown age. Kurt Kjær, the lead author of the paper, speculated that it might date to the Pleistocene (2.58 million to 11,700 years ago), and mentioned a possible connection to the Younger Dryas.

However, in 2022 the crater was dated to around 58 million years ago, the late Paleocene, using Argon–argon dating combined with uranium–lead dating of shocked zircon crystals.

Other explanations

Main article: Younger Dryas § Causes

A number of other hypotheses have been put forward about the cause of the Younger Dryas climate event.

Mainstream explanation

The most widely accepted explanation is that it began because of a significant reduction or shutdown of the North Atlantic "Conveyor" – which circulates warm tropical waters northward – as the consequence of deglaciation in North America. Geological evidence for such an event is not fully secure, but recent work has identified a pathway along the Mackenzie River that would have spilled fresh water from Lake Agassiz into the Arctic and thence into the Atlantic. The global climate would then have become locked into the new state until freezing removed the fresh water "lid" from the North Atlantic.

Other alternatives

Although initially sceptical, Wallace Broecker—the scientist who proposed the conveyor shutdown hypothesis—eventually agreed with the idea of an extraterrestrial impact at the Younger Dryas boundary, and thought that it had acted as a trigger on top of a system that was already approaching instability.

Another hypothesis suggests instead that the jet stream shifted northward in response to the melting of the North American ice sheet, which brought more rain to the North Atlantic, which freshened the ocean surface enough to slow the thermohaline circulation.

Another proposed cause has been volcanic activity. However, this has been challenged recently due to improved dating of the most likely suspect, the Laacher See volcano. In 2021, research by Frederick Reinig et al. precisely dated the eruption to 200 ± 21 years before the onset of the Younger Dryas, therefore ruling it out as a culprit. The same study also concluded that the onset took place synchronously over the entire North Atlantic and Central European region. A press release from the University of Mainz stated, "Due to the new dating, the European archives now have to be temporally adapted. At the same time, a previously existing temporal difference to the data from the Greenland ice cores was closed."

History

This section relies excessively on references to primary sources. Please improve this section by adding secondary or tertiary sources.
Find sources: "Younger Dryas impact hypothesis" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The idea that a comet struck North America at the end of the last ice age was first proposed as a speculative premise by the American congressman and pseudohistorian Ignatius Donnelly in 1883, who suggested it formed the Great Lakes and caused a sudden extreme cold period, which devastated animal and human populations.

In 2001, Richard Firestone and William Topping published their first version of the YDIH, "Terrestrial Evidence of a Nuclear Catastrophe in Paleoindian Times" in Mammoth Trumpet, a newsletter of the Center for the Study of the First Americans. They proposed that "the entire Great Lakes region (and beyond) was subjected to a particle bombardment and a catastrophic nuclear radiation..." They argue that this cataclysm generated a shock wave that gouged out the Carolina Bays and reset the radiocarbon clock. Most geologists today interpret the Carolina bays as relict geomorphological features that developed via various eolian and lacustrine processes. Multiple lines of evidence, e.g. radiocarbon dating, optically stimulated luminescence dating, and palynology, indicate that the Carolina bays predate the start of the Holocene. Fossil pollen recovered from cores of undisturbed sediment taken from various Carolina bays in North Carolina by Frey, Watts, and Whitehead document the presence of full glacial pollen zones within the sediments filling some Carolina bays. The range of dates can be interpreted that Carolina bays were either created episodically over the last tens of thousands of years or were created at time over a hundred thousand years ago and have since been episodically modified. Recent work by the U.S. Geological Survey has interpreted the Carolina bays as relict thermokarst lakes that have been modified by eolian and lacustrine processes. Modern thermokarst lakes are common today around Barrow (Alaska), and the long axes of these lakes are oblique to the prevailing wind direction.

In 2006, The Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes: How a Stone-Age Comet Changed the Course of World Culture, a trade book by Richard Firestone, Allen West and Simon Warwick-Smith, was published by Inner Traditions – Bear & Company and marketed in the category of Earth Changes. It proposed that a large meteor air burst or impact of one or more comets initiated the Younger Dryas cold period about 12,900 BP calibrated (10,900 C uncalibrated) years ago.

In May 2007, at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Acapulco, Firestone, West, and around twenty other scientists made their first formal presentation of the hypothesis/ Later that year, the group published a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that suggested the impact event may have led to an immediate decline in human populations in North America. Since this paper was considered too controversial for standard peer review, it was handled by a specially selected 'personal editor' who was friendly to the hypothesis.

In 2008, C. Vance Haynes Jr. published data to support the synchronous nature of the black mats, emphasizing that independent analysis of other Clovis sites was required to support the hypothesis. He was skeptical of the bolide impact as the cause of the Younger Dryas and associated megafauna extinction but concluded "... something major happened at 10,900 YBP (C uncalibrated) that we have yet to understand." The first debate between proponents and skeptics was held at the 2008 Pecos Conference in Flagstaff, Arizona.

In 2009, papers by Kerr and Kennett in the journal Science asserted that nanodiamonds were evidence for a swarm of carbonaceous chondrites or comet fragments from air burst(s) or impact(s) that set parts of North America on fire, caused the extinction of most of the megafauna in North America, and led to the demise of the Clovis culture A special debate-style session was convened at the 2009 AGU Fall Meeting in which skeptics and supporters alternated in giving presentations.

In 2010, astronomer William Napier published a model suggesting that fragments of a comet—initially 50 to 100 kilometers in diameter—could have been responsible for such an impact, and that the Taurid complex is formed of the remaining debris.

In 2011, Pinter and others challenged the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis on the basis that most of the conclusions could not be reproduced and were a misinterpretation of data. Skepticism increased when it was reported that one of the lead authors of the original paper had practiced geophysics without a license. Around that time, Daulton stated that no nanodiamonds were found and that the supposed carbon spherules could be fungus or insect feces and included modern contaminants as stated by Boslough and others and Roach. In response, in June 2013 Wittke and others published a re-evaluation of spherules from eighteen sites worldwide that they interpret as supporting their hypothesis.

In 2012, a paper by Bunch and others reported the discovery of scoria like objects (SLO) and stated that they were consistent with an extraterrestrial impact or airburst. Post-publication review of this paper suggests that at least some of these SLOs are anthropogenic. Another group of scientists reported evidence supporting a modified version of the hypothesis—involving a fragmented comet or asteroid—was found in lake bed cores dating to 12,900 YBP from Lake Cuitzeo in Guanajuato, Mexico. It included nanodiamonds (including the hexagonal form called lonsdaleite), carbon spherules, and magnetic spherules. Multiple hypotheses were examined to account for these observations, though none were believed to be terrestrial. Lonsdaleite occurs naturally in asteroids and cosmic dust and as a result of extraterrestrial impacts on Earth. Lonsdaleite has also been made artificially in laboratories.

In 2013, Petaev and others reported a hundredfold spike in the concentration of platinum in Greenland ice cores roughly dated to 12,890 YBP. This anomaly was attributed to a small local iron meteorite fall without any widespread consequences. A refutation of the YDIH, by Holliday and others (including Petaev), showed that the Pt spike was not evidence to support the YDIH because it occurred 20 years after the YDB.

In 2016, Holiday and others reported on further analysis of Younger Dryas boundary sediments at nine sites found no evidence of an extraterrestrial impact at the Younger Dryas boundary. Also that year, Daulton and others reported an analysis of nanodiamond evidence failed to uncover lonsdaleite or a spike in nanodiamond concentration at the YDB.

In 2017, C R Moore and others reported a Pt anomaly at eleven continental sites dated to the Younger Dryas, which is linked with the Greenland Platinum anomaly.

In 2018, dealing with an "extraordinary biomass-burning episode" associated with the Younger Dryas Impact were reported by Wolbach and others and Lynch. However, these claims of extraordinary fires are disputed by Holliday and others with a response by Wolbach.

53 Younger Dryas boundary sites
A map from Mario Pino et al. 2019  showing 53 Younger Dryas boundary sites. Orange dots represent 28 sites with peaks in both platinum (Pt) and other impact proxies such as high-temperature Fe-rich spherules. Red dots represent 24 sites with impact proxies but lacking Pt measurements.

In 2019, Pino and others reported evidence in sediment layers with charcoal and pollen assemblages both indicating major disturbances at Pilauco Bajo, Chile in sediments dated to 12,800 BP. This included rare metallic spherules, melt glass and nanodiamonds thought to have been produced during airbursts or impacts. Pilauco Bajo is the southernmost site where evidence of the Younger Dryas impacts has been reported. This has been interpreted as evidence that a strewn field from the Younger Dryas impact event may have affected at least 30% of Earth's radius. Also in 2019, CR Moore and others reported analysis of age-dated sediments from a long-lived pond in South Carolina showed not just an overabundance of platinum but a platinum/palladium ratio inconsistent with a terrestrial origin, as well as an overabundance of soot and a decrease in fungal spores associated with the dung of large herbivores, suggesting large-scale regional wildfires and at least a local decrease in ice age megafauna.

In 2019, Thackery and others reported that a ~10 ppb platinum (Pt) enrichment in peat deposits at Wonderkrater in South Africa was associated with the YDB, although the age uncertainty range of the anomaly exceeded 2 thousand years.

In 2019 research at White Pond near Elgin, South Carolina, conducted by CR Moore from the University of South Carolina and 16 colleagues, used a core to extract sediment samples from underneath the pond. The samples, dated by radiocarbon to the beginning of the Younger Dryas, were found to contain a large platinum anomaly, consistent with findings from other sites. A large soot anomaly was also found in cores from the site.

Meltglass from Abu Hureyra
Examples of meltglass from Tell Abu Hureyra

In 2020, a group led by Allen West reported high concentrations of iridium, platinum, nickel, and cobalt at the Younger Dryas boundary in material from Tell Abu Hureyra. They concluded that the evidence supports the impact hypothesis, but this was quickly contradicted by another study calling the YDIH into question because the samples were extremely unlikely to have been deposited at the same time. Since all samples from the site were expended, the findings cannot be confirmed.

In 2022, a paper by geologist James L. Powell, a YDIH proponent, claimed that opponents had prematurely rejected YDIH, detailing the example of research published by Firestone and others in 2001 and the inability of a later study by Surovell and others in 2009 that was unable to reproduce these results leading a number of other scientists to reject YDIH. Powell argues that since then, many independent studies have reproduced that evidence at dozens of YD sites.

A March 2023 article by planetary impact physicist Mark Boslough and YDIH opponent stated that "...the YDIH has never been accepted by experts in any related field" because it is "plagued by self contradictions, logical fallacies, basic misunderstandings, misidentified impact evidence, abandoned claims, irreproducible results, questionable protocols, lack of disclosure, secretiveness, failed predictions, contaminated samples, pseudoscientific arguments, physically impossible mechanisms, and misrepresentations".

This article may contain inappropriate self-references to the Misplaced Pages project or to itself. Please address the problem by removing references to Misplaced Pages or to the article as a document. (March 2024)

In July 2023 Holliday and others published a comprehensive refutation of the YDIH that collected and summarized many of the positions from opponents to YDIH publications mentioned in the above history. Sections in this article refute the areas of evidence regarding Hypothetical impact markers, "Black mats," Extinction of megafauna, Impact on human societies, the Hiawatha crater. Also criticized were fundamental assumptions, flawed sampling, inadequate dating, Pseudoarchaeological divined date of the impact event, pseudoscience (fringe) evidence and conjecture, issues with other YDIH claims, such as the Carolina bays, contradictory results when different groups have examined the same sample specimens, and unparalleled promotion of YDIH outside of scientific literature. The paper also responded to and critiqued assertions from Powell. The paper concludes that since "YDIH evolved directly from pseudoscience, the initial publication in scientific literature was seriously plagued by poorly documented interpretations and baseless assertions." and lists 11 serious flaws that persist in YDIH.

In a December 2023 article by CR Moore and others stated that "anomalous peak abundances of platinum and Fe-rich microspherules with high-temperature minerals have previously been demonstrated to be a chronostratigraphic marker for the lower Younger Dryas Boundary (YDB) dating to 12.8 ka," was found in sediments at Wakulla Springs, Florida. "The study confirms the utility of this YDB datum layer for intersequence correlation and for assessing relative ages of Paleoamerican artifacts, including those of likely Clovis, pre-Clovis, and post-Clovis age and their possible responses to environmental changes known to have occurred during the Younger Dryas cool climatic episode."

In popular culture

The impact hypothesis has been the subject of documentaries, including Mammoth Mystery on National Geographic Explorer (2007), Journey to 10,000 BC on the History Channel (2008), Survival Earth on Channel 4 (2008), and Megabeasts' Sudden Death on PBS Nova (2009).

Graham Hancock argued in his 2015 book Magicians of the Gods that the Younger Dryas comet destroyed the earth in a time cycle and that it was responsible for the Noahide flood myth. He inferred that this myth was widespread elsewhere on earth by comparing it with the flood mythology of other peoples. These claims were criticized as inaccurate by independent reviewers, including Jason Colavito, Michael Shermer, and Marc J. Defant. Hancock expanded on his claims in a subsequent book, America Before: The Key to Earth's Lost Civilization (2019), in which he claimed that the Younger Dryas catastrophe had wiped out all traces of a sophisticated Ice Age civilization in North America.

In 2017, a debate was held on the Joe Rogan Experience between proponents Graham Hancock, Randall Carlson, and Malcolm A. LeCompte and opponents Michael Shermer and Marc J. Defant. The week that the podcast was released, the network was reportedly averaging over 120 million downloads a month.

A 2021 episode of the Science Channel series Ancient Unexplained Files had a segment on the evidence from Abu Hureyra; geoscientist Sian Proctor also described the impact hypothesis as a whole.

In 2022 Graham Hancock presented in a Netflix series titled Ancient Apocalypse, with episode 8 specifically covering the YDIH. In March 2023 Mark Boslough published a commentary in Skeptic magazine with the conclusion that many attributes of the series are pseudoscience.

See also

Footnotes

  1. Allen West (originally Allen Whitt until he changed his name legally in 2006) is described as having no formal academic affiliation and a degree from a Bible college which he wouldn't name.
  2. One of the authors of this study, Matthew Boyd, later published a paper that argued in favour of the impact hypothesis.
  3. ^ The darkened stratum was first identified at the Lehner Mammoth-Kill Site by Emil Haury who named it "Lehner swamp soil"; it was later renamed by Vance Haynes as the "black mat".
  4. ^ Pigati has noted that his 2012 paper  does not disprove the impact hypothesis.
  5. This paper's co-authors include Kurt Kjær and Elizabeth Silber
  6. Broecker did not believe that the impact caused extinctions.
  7. Allen West had the conviction expunged after the matter was reported on by Rex Dalton.
  8. Megabeasts Sudden Death was removed from online streaming after NOVA WGBH learned about problems with the hypothesis and data discrancies.
  9. ^ Both Michael Shermer and Marc J. Defant have since indicated that they accept the impact hypothesis.

References

Citations

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  3. Powell (2022).
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  147. Michael Shermer (11 March 2020). "Ok @Graham__Hancock I shall adjust my priors in light of more research like this, and modify my credence about your theory... 'Evidence of Cosmic Impact at Abu Hureyra, Syria at the Younger Dryas Onset (~12.8 ka): High-temperature melting at >2200 °C' https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-60867-w" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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Bibliography

Further reading

Presentations of the American Geophysical Union
Mammoth Trumpet

An extensive series of articles was published in Mammoth Trumpet, the magazine for Texas A&M University's Center for the Study of the First Americans, featuring conversations with many YDIH proponents and opponents:

External links

Scholia has a profile for Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (Q1092095). Categories: