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> look up any random day and see a meteor streaking across the sky That's happened rather more times in Earth's history than most folks are comfortable admitti
by timschmidt 5mo ago
> look up any random day and see a meteor streaking across the sky
That's happened rather more times in Earth's history than most folks are comfortable admitting. Tunguska would have leveled any major metropolitan city on the planet. I still think an impact is one of the more likely initiators of the Younger Dryas abrupt cooling and worldwide ~100M sealevel rise ~12,000 years ago. Conspicuously aligned with the oldest surviving traces of city living, agriculture, etc. It's increasingly accepted that a large portion of human history is 100M underwater on the continental shelves, estuaries, and other coastal areas where humans would have liked to live.
- vkou 5mo agoSea level rise was much faster before the cooling of the Younger Dryas.
- timschmidt 5mo agoYou're right, and here's a graph: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Past_sea_level#/media/File:Post-Glacial_Sea_Level.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Past_sea_level#/media/File:Pos... It's possible the sea level rise could have initiated the cooling. But there is much disagreement as to what exactly initiated the de-glaciation which caused the sealevel rise.
- mjhay 5mo agoThe impact hypothesis for Younger Dryas isn’t really tenable. Among other things, the climate effects of a large bolide impact would be global, whereas Antarctica actually warmed during YD. This “Polar See-saw” pattern is easily explained by a northerly meltwater pulse hypothesis, but not a bolide.
- macartain 5mo agoIt's increasingly accepted that a large portion of human history is 100M underwater on the continental shelves, estuaries, and other coastal areas where humans would have liked to live. Any references for that? Genuine question.
- timschmidt 5mo agoHere's a review: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379108001911 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S02773... More: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1411762111 https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1411762111 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08769-7 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08769-7 https://www.academia.edu/9737879/Land_Beneath_the_Waves_Submerged_landscapes_and_sea_level_change_A_joint_geoscience_humanities_strategy_for_European_Continental_Shelf_Prehistoric_Research https://www.academia.edu/9737879/Land_Beneath_the_Waves_Subm... https://pure.york.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/under-the-sea-archaeology-and-palaeolandscapes-of-the-continental https://pure.york.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/under-the-sea...
- macartain 5mo agoMuch appreciated - living in the UK, I have heard of Doggerland and should have expected there would be plenty of similar areas worldwide - this is interesting stuff.
- timschmidt 5mo agoIt's really amazing how much more connected the world was not very long ago. Take a look at 24k years ago here: https://sea-level.vercel.app/ https://sea-level.vercel.app/ Nearly every continent is one connected landmass. And all the most prime real estate is now under water.