Ancient humans may have witnessed catastrophic fireballs from a 62-mile-wide comet near the end of the last Ice Age that spurred blazes larger than the 'dinosaur killers'
►Study suggests fragments of a 62-mile-wide comet struck 12,800 years ago
►This would have caused massive fires across roughly 10 percent of Earth's land
►The resulting dust, blocking out sunlight, would have brought on a near Ice Age
►Large species died out, humans saw greater risk of cancer, and ozone depleted
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Nearly 13,000 years ago, Earth may have plunged suddenly into an apocalyptic scene; a barrage of fireballs lit up the sky, followed by powerful shock waves and fires that blazed across 10 percent of the planet’s land surface.
The sky turned black as dust blocked out the sunlight, and temperatures rapidly plummeted, causing plants to die out and glaciers to advance, in what soon became a near ice age state.
And, humans were there to witness it all – with grave consequences.
This is according to new research, which suggests fragments of a 62-mile-wide disintegrating comet struck Earth 12,800 years ago and spurred burning events larger than those caused by the ‘dinosaur killers.’
According to a new study, Earth was plunged suddenly into an apocalyptic scene 12,800 years ago; a sudden barrage of fireballs lit the sky, followed by powerful shock waves and fires that blazed across 10 percent of the planet’s land surface. An artist's impression is pictured
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The new study on geochemical and isotopic markers, which involved two dozen researchers, argues that a cosmic impact thousands of years ago left behind high concentrations of platinum across the Northern Hemisphere.
This could be found at a number of sites, including ice cores collected from the Greenland Ice Sheet, linked to the Younger Dryas boundary – a period roughly 12,800 years ago toward the end of the last Ice Age when glacial conditions temporarily began to advance again.
According to the new research, an impact could have triggered this cooling episode.
‘The work includes measurements made at more than 170 different sites around the world,’ said Adrian Melott, University of Kansas Emeritus Professor of Physics & Astronomy.
‘The hypothesis is that a large comet fragmented and the chunks impacted the Earth, causing this disaster.
‘A number of different chemical signatures – carbon dioxide, nitrate, ammonia, and others – all seem to indicate that an astonishing 10 percent of the Earth’s land surface, or about 10 million square kilometers, was consumer by fires.’
New research suggests fragments of a 62-mile-wide disintegrating comet struck Earth 12,800 years ago and spurred burning events larger than those caused by the ‘dinosaur killers.’ Artist's impression
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The pollen analysis indicated that pine forests were likely burned off and later replaced by poplar.
This species is known to colonize cleared areas.
The impact would have been equally catastrophic for the humans and animals alive at the time.
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WHEN WERE EARTH'S FIVE GREAT EXTINCTION EVENTS?
Five times, a vast majority of the world's life has been snuffed out in what have been called mass extinctions.
End-Ordovician mass extinction
The first of the traditional big five extinction events, around 540 million years ago, was probably the second most severe. Virtually all life was in the sea at the time and around 85% of these species vanished.
Late Devonian mass extinction
About 375-359 million years ago, major environmental changes caused a drawn-out extinction event that wiped out major fish groups and stopped new coral reefs forming for 100 million years.
Five times, a vast majority of the world's life has been snuffed out in what have been called mass extinctions. The most famous may be the End-Cretaceous, which wiped out the dinosaurs. Artist's impression
End-Permian mass extinction (the Great Dying)
The largest extinction event and the one that affected the Earth's ecology most profoundly took place 252 million years ago. As much as 97% of species that leave a fossil record disappeared forever.
End-Triassic mass extinction
Dinosaurs first appeared in the Early Triassic, but large amphibians and mammal-like reptiles were the dominant land animals. The rapid mass extinction that occurred 201 million years ago changed that.
End-Cretaceous mass extinction
An asteroid slammed down on Earth 66 million years ago, and is often blamed for ending the reign of the dinosaurs.
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Some larger species of the late Pleistocene became extinct as a result, and the human population experienced cultural shifts and decline due to the many health problems that would have followed the event.
‘Computations suggest that the impact would have depleted the ozone layer, causing increases in skin cancer and other negative health effects,’ Melott said.
‘The impact hypothesis is still a hypothesis, but this study provides a massive amount of evidence, which we argue can only be all explained by a major cosmic impact.’
According to the researchers, the remnants of the ancient disintegrating comet likely still remain in our solar system today.
