WRITER FUEL: Scientists have found new evidence that a massive comet trail may have caused climate upheaval on Earth more than 12,000 years ago.

https://www.limfic.com/2026/01/01/writer-fuel-massive-comet-trail-may-have-caused-extreme-cooling-on-earth-12000-years-ago/

#WriterFuel #StoryIdeas #Comet #History #YoungerDryas #ClimateChange #Catastrophe

#YoungerDryas

"What Really Killed the Mammoths? New Evidence Points to Exploding Comet 13,000 Years Ago

Evidence from key archaeological sites suggests a major cosmic explosion may have reshaped the climate and ecosystems of the late Pleistocene.

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For the past couple of decades, Kennett and fellow proponents of this hypothesis have been gathering evidence that increasingly supports it, including a 'black mat' layer in the sediment at many sites across North America and Europe — indicative of widespread burning. Additionally, they have uncovered a growing list of impact proxies, which include unusually high concentrations of rare minerals that are common in comets, such as platinum and iridium, and mineral formations indicative of extremely high temperatures and pressures, such as nanodiamonds and metals and minerals that have melted, cooled, and hardened again, including metallic spherules and meltglass.

Thanks to advances in technology, the team is homing in on another proxy that is considered the crème de la crème of cosmic impact evidence: shocked quartz — grains of sand that exhibit deformations due to extreme heat and temperature. In samples from the three North American archaeological sites — Murray Springs, Blackwater Draw and Arlington Canyon — the researchers identified quartz grains with telltale cracks, some filled with melted silica. They used a variety of techniques, including electron microscopy and cathodoluminescence, to confirm that the quartz grains had been shocked at extremely high temperatures and pressures, far beyond what could have been accomplished by volcanism or ancient human activity."

https://scitechdaily.com/what-really-killed-the-mammoths-new-evidence-points-to-exploding-comet-13000-years-ago/

Lake Agassiz (Paleogeography 🦕)

Lake Agassiz was a large proglacial lake that existed in central North America during the late Pleistocene, fed by meltwater from the retreating Laurentide Ice Sheet at the end of the last glacial period. At its peak, the lake's area was larger than all of the modern Great Lakes combined. It eventually drained into what is now Hud...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Agassiz

#LakeAgassiz #Megafloods #YoungerDryas #ShrunkenLakes #LakesOfOntario #Paleogeography

'Geochemical re-evaluation supports cosmic impact rather than volcanism at Younger Dryas onset, Hall’s Cave, Texas: Reply to Sun et al. 2020' - a recent article published in "Airbursts and Cratering Impacts" on #ScienceOpen 📄🔗 https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14293/ACI.2025.0007

#YoungerDryas #ImpactHypothesis #CosmicImpact #Geochemistry

#YoungerDryas #YDIH

"Researchers analyzed sediment cores extracted from the seafloor of Baffin Bay near Greenland, finding indicators of a cosmic impact event inside the layer that correlates to the Younger Dryas. The findings, published August 6 in the journal PLOS One, suggest that a comet—or its remnants—exploded in Earth’s atmosphere at around the same time that this 1,200-year-long cold snap began.

A controversial hypothesis

The study offers new support for the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis. In 2007, researchers proposed that fragments of a disintegrating comet or asteroid struck Earth around 12,800 years ago, triggering wildfires across North America. Such a calamity would have produced enough soot and ash to blot out the Sun and plunge the Northern Hemisphere back into a colder state.

It’s an elegant explanation, but a highly contested one. Researchers haven’t found an impact crater that would prove this event took place, so proponents largely rely on geochemical evidence found in sediment layers that date back to just before the Younger Dryas began.

Amid a lack of definitive evidence for the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis, most experts instead subscribe to the Meltwater Pulse Hypothesis, which suggests that a deluge of freshwater from the melting ice sheet that covered most of North America during the Pleistocene temporarily interfered with Earth’s heat-transporting ocean currents. Previous geochemical evidence from ocean sediment cores supports this idea, but scientists have yet to determine the exact route taken by this apparent flood.

Searching for impact clues

The authors of this latest study, led by University of South Carolina archaeologist Christopher R. Moore, suggest that both hypotheses may be true. 'The [Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis] is often cited as an alternative to the Meltwater Pulse Hypothesis,' Moore said in an interview with PLOS One. 'What many don’t understand is that the YDIH proposes the impact event (potentially involving many thousands of impacts and airbursts globally) would destabilize the glacial ice sheet in the Northern Hemisphere, leading to the collapse of massive glacial meltwater lakes and subsequently shutting down the ocean’s conveyor belt.'"

https://gizmodo.com/new-study-fuels-debate-over-world-changing-comet-strike-12800-years-ago-2000644588