Tollmann's hypothetical bolide
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Alexander Tollmann's bolide is a hypothesis presented by Austrian professor of geology Dr. Alexander Tollmann, suggesting that one or several bolides (asteroids or comets) struck the Earth at 7640 BCE (+/-200), with a much smaller one at 3150 BCE (+/-200). If true, this hypothesis explains early holocene extinctions and possibly legends of the Universal Deluge.
The positive scientific evidence includes stratigraphic studies of tektites, dendrochronology, and ice cores (from Camp Century, Greenland) containing hydrochloric and sulphuric acid (indicating an energetic ocean strike) as well as nitric acids (caused by extreme heating of air). (See references below)
The 7640 BCE evidence is consistent with the dates of formation of a number of salt flats and lakes still extant in dry areas of North America and Asia, suggesting that the strikes may have occurred in oceans, causing multiple-kilometer-high waves that penetrated deeply into continents, and/or causing large amounts of saltwater to be pushed into orbit and fall down as rain, leaving salt lakes in deserts. Surface salt is always a temporary geological phenomenon, because rain dissolves salt.
Incursions of salt, sand and oceanic fossils in this period were classically explained by "depression" of continents by the weight of Pleistocene ice, but these explanations are inconsistent with countervailing observations of a 90–120 m rise of ocean levels in the early Holocene. That is, it would be impossible for the sea level to inundate these areas, and then rise 90 m later and remain below them. In some areas (like the Great Salt Lake of Utah), no glacier was present when the salt almost instantly (in stratigraphic terms) replaced a previous fresh-water lake.
Large waves and climatic disruption caused by impacts could have given rise to the stories of global flood found in many cultures, but this must remain speculation.
References
- Tollmann, Alexander and Edith, Terra Nova 6, pp. 209-217, 1994, discusses early Holocene meteor strikes and supporting evidence.
- Glass, B.P. "Australasian Microtektites and the Stratigraphic Age of Australites," Bull. Geo. Soc. Am. 89, 1978 pp. 1455-1458
- Izokh, E.P., "Age Paradox and the Origin of Tektites," Sec. Int. COnf. Nat. Glasses, Charles University, Prague, 1987, pp. 379-384
- Prasad, N.H., Rao, P.S., "Tektites Far and Wide," Nature, 1990, 347, pp340
- Kromer, B., Becker, B. "Tree Ring Carbon 14 Calibration at 10,000 BP," Proc. NATO Advanced Research Workshop, Erice, 1990
- Stoker, J.J., "Mathematical Theory of Water Waves," John Wiley & Sons, 1992
See also
External links
- Giant Comet launched Noah's Ark (http://www.goldenageproject.org.uk/19giantcomet.html)
- Seven Stars myth/theory. (http://www.mikecrowson.co.uk/SevenStars.html)