[meteorite-list] Mammoths Found Peppered with Meteorite Fragments

From: tracy latimer <daistiho_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:41:54 +0000
Message-ID: <BAY115-W53660EA86B8E9D4D74465CA660_at_phx.gbl>

I also agree. Any airburst or cratering event sufficiently energetic to create Meteor-Crater-esque iron spherules and fire them, still smoking, into mammoth tusks, should result in more definite signs of concussion and heat damage to the other bones. We should be finding, in conjunction with pitted mammoth tusks, skeletons with shattered bones, singed hair and flesh and other remnants, and other evidence of being at the meteoric equivalent of ground zero. Look at what happened at Tunguska. Where are the charred tree stumps and other plant matter?

Playing Devil's advocate for a moment, is there a chance the author is fudging the findings? Could the proposed results be replicated by, say, firing a shotgun shell full of coarse iron filings at a tusk, like using paper from the appropriate era to forge a historical document? Stranger things have happened in the course of academia, especially when a scientist has strongly invested in a theory. Human beings also love a fantastic, even if erroneous, story, over a more pedestrian explanation, despite Occam's Razor. Is there another, simpler explanation for the findings?

Just call me Doubting Tracy (I was dubious about the Peru crater as well, and was happy to have been proven wrong!)

Tracy Latimer

> From: cynapse at charter.net
> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2007 22:27:33 -0400
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Mammoths Found Peppered with Meteorite Fragments
>
> On Wed, 12 Dec 2007 11:23:33 -0800 (PST), you wrote:
>
>>
>>Eight tusks dating to some 35,000 years ago all show signs of having
>>being peppered with meteorite fragments.
>>
>
>
>
>>
>>The mammoth and bison remains all display small (about 2-3mm in size)
>>perforations.
>>
>>Raised, burnt surface rings trace the point of entry of high-velocity
>>projectiles; and the punctures are on only one side, consistent with a
>
> Okay, does this make much sense to someone better with the math than I am? (I'm
> staring in your direction, Sterling). How far would particles of meteorititic
> or cometary dust (presumedly from an airburst) be able to travel in near-surface
> atmospheric thickness while still retaining enough velocity to penetrate bone
> and leave "raised, burnt surface rings"? I'm betting not very far at all. Tens
> of meters? Hundreds? I'm betting that if you are close enough to have dust
> (2-3mm) penetrate bone, you are close enough that you are going to be turned
> into a bag of splintered pulp by the shockwave. Just doesn't seem to hold water
> to me.
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Received on Thu 13 Dec 2007 03:41:54 PM PST