7 ms·

Does that mean there were two airbursts and not just one in the same place 9000 years apart? Not disputing that, but my interpretation would be that there was

by raducu 5y ago

Does that mean there were two airbursts and not just one in the same place 9000 years apart? Not disputing that, but my interpretation would be that there was just one airburst that covered both cities.

kuschku 5y ago
Jericho and Tall el-Hammam were destroyed in the same airburst, in the same place (~22km distance, ~same time). Abu Hereya (several hundred kilometers away, 9000 years earlier) was also discussed in the article, and is a separate impact.
- yosito 5y ago
  Jericho? Isn't that the city with the biblical story of God knocking down the walls from the inside out? I wonder if there's a connection.
  - yxhuvud 5y ago
    The more obvious connection is with Sodom & Gomorra being destroyed by divine wrath. Evidence of high temperatures and increased salinity..
    - dr_zoidberg 5y ago
      The linked study mentions the possibility of Tall el-Hammam being Sodom, but they specifically say thats a whole line of study in itself and they won't go into details in the paper.
      - yxhuvud 5y ago
        Yes, they did avoid derailing the study very nicely.
    - 13of40 5y ago
      Having driven through Sodom, which is situated on the dead end of the dead sea, next to the apocalyptic salt factory they have there, it boggles my mind that you would be able to measure "increased salinity". What I'm saying is the dirt itself is half salt.
      - BurningFrog 5y ago
        That's what you'd expect after an "increased salinity" event.
      - dhosek 5y ago
        "Apocalyptic salt factory" in Sodom creates an image in my mind of a factory whose salt comes from the pillars of salt left behind by all the people leaving Sodom but stopping to look back.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
- Arech 5y ago
  It worth actually to follow links to Abu Hureyra paper [1] to learn that this event is considered not as a solitary impact, but just one in a series of events across four continents. Abu Hureyra's paper also reference paper [2] with a telling name "Evidence for deposition of 10 million tonnes of impact spherules across four continents 12,800 y ago". Here's a fragment of conclusion from that paper: "The geographical extent of the (Younger Drias) YD impact is limited by the range of sites available for study to date and is presumably much larger, because we have found consistent, supporting evidence over an increasingly wide area. The nature of the impactor remains unclear, although we suggest that the most likely hypothesis is that of multiple airbursts/impacts by a large comet or asteroid that fragmented in solar orbit, as is common for nearly all comets. The YD impact at 12.8 ka is coincidental with major environmental events, including abrupt cooling at the YD onset, major extinction of some end-Pleistocene megafauna, disappearance of Clovis cultural traditions, widespread biomass burning, and often, the deposition of dark, carbon-rich sediments (black mat). It is reasonable to hypothesize a relationship between these events and the YDB impact, although much work remains to understand the causal mechanisms." [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-60867-w https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-60867-w [2] https://www.pnas.org/content/110/23/E2088 https://www.pnas.org/content/110/23/E2088

by raducu 5y ago

kuschku 5y ago

Jericho and Tall el-Hammam were destroyed in the same airburst, in the same place (~22km distance, ~same time). Abu Hereya (several hundred kilometers away, 9000 years earlier) was also discussed in the article, and is a separate impact.

yosito 5y ago
Jericho? Isn't that the city with the biblical story of God knocking down the walls from the inside out? I wonder if there's a connection.
- yxhuvud 5y ago
  The more obvious connection is with Sodom & Gomorra being destroyed by divine wrath. Evidence of high temperatures and increased salinity..
  - dr_zoidberg 5y ago
    The linked study mentions the possibility of Tall el-Hammam being Sodom, but they specifically say thats a whole line of study in itself and they won't go into details in the paper.
    - yxhuvud 5y ago
      Yes, they did avoid derailing the study very nicely.
  - 13of40 5y ago
    Having driven through Sodom, which is situated on the dead end of the dead sea, next to the apocalyptic salt factory they have there, it boggles my mind that you would be able to measure "increased salinity". What I'm saying is the dirt itself is half salt.
    - BurningFrog 5y ago
      That's what you'd expect after an "increased salinity" event.
    - dhosek 5y ago
      "Apocalyptic salt factory" in Sodom creates an image in my mind of a factory whose salt comes from the pillars of salt left behind by all the people leaving Sodom but stopping to look back.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
Arech 5y ago
It worth actually to follow links to Abu Hureyra paper [1] to learn that this event is considered not as a solitary impact, but just one in a series of events across four continents. Abu Hureyra's paper also reference paper [2] with a telling name "Evidence for deposition of 10 million tonnes of impact spherules across four continents 12,800 y ago". Here's a fragment of conclusion from that paper: "The geographical extent of the (Younger Drias) YD impact is limited by the range of sites available for study to date and is presumably much larger, because we have found consistent, supporting evidence over an increasingly wide area. The nature of the impactor remains unclear, although we suggest that the most likely hypothesis is that of multiple airbursts/impacts by a large comet or asteroid that fragmented in solar orbit, as is common for nearly all comets. The YD impact at 12.8 ka is coincidental with major environmental events, including abrupt cooling at the YD onset, major extinction of some end-Pleistocene megafauna, disappearance of Clovis cultural traditions, widespread biomass burning, and often, the deposition of dark, carbon-rich sediments (black mat). It is reasonable to hypothesize a relationship between these events and the YDB impact, although much work remains to understand the causal mechanisms." [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-60867-w https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-60867-w [2] https://www.pnas.org/content/110/23/E2088 https://www.pnas.org/content/110/23/E2088