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A stunning new scientific paper published today in
Airbursts and Cratering Impacts provides some of the most compelling evidence yet for a Younger Dryas Boundary (YDB) impact structure — this time in Louisiana.
The study, titled
"Evidence of a 12,800-year-old Shallow Airburst Depression in Louisiana with Large Deposits of Shocked Quartz and Melted Materials", is a tour de force by 25 authors, including well-known names in the field such as James Kennett, Allen West, Christopher Moore, Malcolm LeCompte, and Marc Young —
both of whom will be presenting this groundbreaking research live at Cosmic Summit 2025.
The paper reports the discovery of an anomalous 300-meter-long depression east of Perkins, Louisiana, filled with high concentrations of impact proxies:
shocked quartz, meltglass, microspherules, carbon spherules, and metallic flakes. Most remarkably, the authors argue the site represents a
shallow "touch-down" airburst crater —
potentially North America's first documented YDB-age impact feature.🔬 What They Found
- Shocked Quartz: Glass-filled planar fractures and deformation features — classic cosmic impact indicators.
- Hundreds of Billions of Microspherules: Found in situ within sediments dating to ~12,800 years BP.
- Over a Ton of Meltglass: Formed at temperatures exceeding 2200°C; includes melted zircon, kaolinite, and quartz.
- Carbon-Rich Spherules: Enriched in iridium, platinum, and osmium — elements associated with cosmic bodies.
- Oxygen-Depleted Metallic Flakes: Rare forms of native iron and wüstite common in extraterrestrial materials.
Dating methods included both
radiocarbon and
argon-argon analyses, pinpointing the event to the Younger Dryas Boundary: 12,835-12,735 cal BP.
Comment: From the CNEOS list [Link]
2025-05-31 23:06:33 UTC Locations 21.1N 98.8W Velocity: 17.8 km/s Calculated Total Impact Energy 1kt TNT.
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