[meteorite-list] Cosmogentic dating, and bad science on ancient meteorite impactor?

From: Paul <bristolia_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2008 10:12:04 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <219730.74827.qm_at_web36203.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Dear Friends,

In? [meteorite-list] Bad Science on ancient meteorite impactor? - Part 2?
< http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/meteorite-list/2008-April/043471.html >,
I wrote:

?Hermanns et al. (2006) also noted of the younger deposits, which
contain the frictionite:

?Pieces of wood recovered from a reconnaissance gallery
in the Tauferberg gave a conventional 14C age of 8710+/-150
years BP (Heuberger, 1966), and an AMS 14C age of 8705+/-
55 years BP (Ivy-Ochs et al., 1998),?

References Cited:

Hermanns, R.., L.. Blikra, M. Naumann, B. Nilsen, K. Panthi, D.
Stromeyer, O. Longva, 2006, Examples of multiple rock-slope collapses
from K?fels (?tz valley, Austria) and western Norway. Engineering
Geology. vol. 83, no. 1-3, pp. 94-108.?

Note, the other two references are:

?Heuberger, H., 1966, Gletschergeschichtliche Untersuchungen in
den Zentralalpen zwischen Sellrain-und Otztal. Wissenschaftliche
Alpenvereinshefte. no. 20.

Ivy-Ochs, S., H. Heuberger, P. W. Kubik, H. Kerschner, G. Bonani,
M. Frank, and C. Schluchter, 1998, The age of the K?fels event.
Relative, 14C and cosmogenic isotope dating of an early Holocene
landslide in the central Alps (Tyrol, Austria). Zeitschrift fur
Gletscherkunde und Glazialgeologie. vol. 34, pp. 57?70.

In ?Cuneiform clay tablet translated for the first time? (EurekAlert
(press release), DC, March 31, 2008 )
< http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-03/uob-cct033108.php >,
the authors of ?'A Sumerian observation of the Kofels' impact event'?
state that this so-called impact is recorded in a tablet dated about 700 BC
(2700 BP) and occurred 3123 BC (5123 BP).

If the above radiocarbon dates are calibrated to calendar years, they
indicate the Kofels event occurred about 9700 BP calendar years. This
is approximately 7000 years before the event was recorded and
approximately 4600 years before they argue that this so-called ?impact?
occurred.

They dismiss the radiocarbon dates by claiming that the wood samples
were somehow magically ?contaminated? by the impact. I say ?magically?,
because there is not a practical way that an impact, especially an imaginary
one, could have contaminated the wood samples buried by the landslide.

The radiocarbon dates are supported and the claims of ?contamination?
are refuted by cosmogenic isotope dating, which would be unaffected
by an impact. Cosmogenic isotope dating by Ivy-Ochs et al. (1998)
that yielded dates of 8880+/-490, 10,070+/-520, and 10,630+/-
570 calendar years BP. These dates are very close to the calibrated
radiocarbon date of about 9,700 BP. Thus, they confirm that the
K?fels landslide occurred thousand of years before either the
Sumerian tablet was argued to have been made, or the when the
so-called ?impact? was suppose to have occurred. The K?fels
landslide is much too old to have any connection with any of them.

Reference Cited

Ivy-Ochs, S., H. Heuberger, P. W. Kubik, H. Kerschner, G. Bonani,
M. Frank, and C. Schluchter, 1998, The age of the K?fels event.
Relative, 14C and cosmogenic isotope dating of an early Holocene
landslide in the central Alps (Tyrol, Austria). Zeitschrift fur
Gletscherkunde und Glazialgeologie. vol. 34, pp. 57?70.

Cosmogenic isotope dating links

Cosmogenic isotope dating of a Sioux Quartzite erosion surface,
Southwestern Minnesota by Carrie Patterson, MGS
http://www.geo.umn.edu/mgs/beryl10/SiouxIntro.html

Cosmogenic Exposure Dating and the Ageof the Earth
http://www.geocities.com/earthhistory/tcn.htm

Additional thoughts on the K?fels "impact" / landslide can be found at:
http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/meteorite-list/2008-April/043471.html

Yours,

Paul H.




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Received on Wed 02 Apr 2008 01:12:04 PM PDT