[meteorite-list] Sweet-and-sour Pepper Mammoth experiment

From: tracy latimer <daistiho_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2007 23:01:25 +0000
Message-ID: <BAY115-W2309BCDD224CD31AAE0DC2CA600_at_phx.gbl>

Can the same results be replicated in the lab? Let's get a pile of bones (mammoth ivory is too expensive and cow bones would probably do just as well, since the same scarring was observed on a bison skull) and do some tests. Heat up some coarse iron shavings and introduce them to the bones at various velocities and temperatures, a.k.a. use a airgun to fire red-hot millings at the bones, or simply sift them onto the bones. If we can reproduce the peppering effect, we have established that a. human agencies can do it, even accidentally (not saying they DID, just that they CAN), and b. the iron particles didn't need to be the result of cosmic velocities.

I am curious about the chemical composition of the iron pellets found in the bones. Traces of iridium would go a long way towards establishing an extraterrestrial origin for the iron.

E.P says:
> You know, its strange to me. Most here are focused on
> this "smaller" iron impact and the peppered tusks,
> instead of on the comet impact which killed about 90%
> of the people living in North America at the time.
> Most died due to hunger. But then, there's not likely
> to be any strewn field from that, and nothing to trade
> except impactites.

Jason says:
Right...if one believes in such an impact, I'm sure they take it into account.
Your impact would require the creation of a probably 10-20 mile
diameter crater, which doesn't seem to exist...the fact is that we've
found craters 1-2 miles across that are millions of years old, and yet
we haven't found this < 100,000 year old monster of a hole in the
ground. Such a crater would be a sore thumb, with impactite strewn
about for hundreds of miles, not to mention the hole itself,
undoubtedly little eroded since its fairly recent formation.
Where did you say it was again?

There are a couple scenarios where a good-size impactor could strike and leave no crater, but create havoc. One is if it made a water strike close to a coastline, and another is if it struck an ice sheet, like a glacier, which subsequently melted. Are there any tsunami deposits of the appropriate age on either coast? I'm not sure if a strike on a glacier would scar the land underneath, especially if the glacier ground and washed away the evidence.


Recipe for Mammoth Stew:

1 mammoth

Vegetables

2 rabbits (optional)

Dice the mammoth. Brown in a large stew pot; add water to cover and simmer. After cooking for 2 days, add vegetables, also diced, and simmer an additional hour. Serve hot. If extra people are expected, you may optionally add a couple of rabbits, but many people do not like to find hare in their stew. :)


Tracy Latimer

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Received on Sat 15 Dec 2007 06:01:25 PM PST