Major Impact Disaster 500+ Years Ago off New Zealand?

"A blast from heaven?"
Link to Part/Page One:
www.usnews.com...

Link to Part/Page Two:
www.usnews.com...


Excerpts:
"In 1989, Edward Bryant climbed a point on the southeast coast of his native Australia with a colleague and found an odd jumble of boulders well above the surf. A big wave, he thought, maybe a tsunami from an earthquake, must have tossed them up there. Over the next few years, however, the University of Wollongong geologist explored hundreds of miles of coast and found more signs of wave action, hundreds of feet above the water--too high for any quake-spawned surge.

An astonishing hypothesis of devastation from outer space formed in his mind. It gathered some praise, along with many ferocious brickbats from doubting colleagues. But what may be a geologic smoking gun has now turned up in 1,000 feet of water just south of New Zealand. Columbia University geologist Dallas Abbott has found what appears to be an impact crater 13 miles across, implying that something enormous, maybe half a mile wide, smashed into the crust there.

If further research confirms that the circular depression is a recent crater, it would lend dramatic ammunition to Bryant's controversial scenario: Five hundred years ago or so, as Europe was beginning its colonial explorations, a comet or perhaps an asteroid plunged to Earth seaward of Australia's New South Wales coast. It would have sent mega-tsunamis ripping into nearby islands and Australia, where Bryant has found not just rocks but trees and beach sand hurled far up bluffs and cliffs, along with whirlpool-carved cavities as much as 150 feet across--testimony, he says, to the sea's onslaught. At one place, Jervis Bay, waves apparently surmounted a headland 420 feet high. "Only a bolide could do this," says Bryant, using a technical term for a sky-bursting cosmic missile. Geologists know such things can happen--a much bigger impact is believed to have ended the reign of the dinosaurs--but no such catastrophe is known in recorded history........

"This is pretty exciting if the story holds up," says Steven Ward, a geophysicist at the University of California-Santa Cruz, who has a keen interest in comet and asteroid impacts. Goff agrees, but with neither a firm date for the crater nor sure evidence that cataclysmic waves hit New Zealand at the same time as it was formed, "the jury is still out," he says. Abbott hopes to settle the issue by gathering and dating samples of debris. An impact would have scattered material for hundreds of miles, creating a distinctive layer in the New Zealand soil, says Ward.

But even if a giant rock did plunge into the sea 500 years ago, it may not be enough to explain Bryant's catalog of devastation. Ward calculated that an object that leaves a 13-mile-wide crater off New Zealand might send waves washing 100 feet up the Australian coast 1,000 miles away, but not a cliff-scaling 400 feet. Bryant, however, has no doubts. "I don't like to believe it, but we had something mighty big hit out there."


In locating a topography map, one can see or notice the underwater shelf, southwest of the South Island, that drops off dramatically towards Australia and goes to the NorthWest.



Also, in checking the NOAA site and looking at thier underwater map of the world, I could not see anything 'unusual' around New Zealand:
Link: (takes a bit to load, but worth the view)
ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov...

I did find that the water level had or has been reduced by approxly. 300 feet.

If this crater impact is roughly/approxly. 500 years old...that would date it to around 1500-1504 A.D., and was probably not a worldwide event, perhaps a localized event....?
Columbia University geologist Dallas Abbott mentions this in the article:
"It's young, almost surely less than a thousand years," she says, judging from the near absence of the sediment that normally builds up on the ocean floor."

In such....that "impact occurance" could be about (maybe and hypothetically) 500-1000 years old....this would push the date back to 1000-1500 A.D. (plus or minus 4 years).


Anyone from New Zealand or Australia have any information on this that they could add?
Any ideas or further information by anyone would be great and appreciated. I ran across this article a couple days ago, and was in the midst of doing some research on it myself. I knew that we had some members here from New Zealand and Australia and figured I would post this article and some of my findings to see if I could gain further imput from those members and any one that was interested in this.

Thanks.

regards
seekerof

Found these ranging within the time periods I have mentioned above and an account dealing with South Island:

"Gavin Menzies: The Mega Tsunami of 1422 - possible scenario"
Link:
www.1421.tv...

Excerpts:
"October 1422 (G.M.'s interpretation)

A comet breaking away from the large comet (Napier and Clube) which entered the solar system about 20, 000 years ago enters the Earth�s atmosphere travelling at 216, 000 km per hour, passing over SE Australia and hits the Earth at 48.3� S, 166.4� E. It penetrates the ocean bed creating an impact crater 20 � 2 k.m. wide, and 153 metres deep. Dallas Abbott and team have named it Mahuika crater.

The impact is about 90 k.m. from Zhou Man�s fleet. His masts are smashed off; many ships catch fire and sailors on the upper decks have their ear drums blown out by the pressure pulse. The ships are turned into helpless hulks.

A tsunami is created with waves 200 metres high, travelling at 1000 miles per hour. Zhou Man�s wrecked fleet hurled NW to Australia and N to New Zealand. When the tsunami strikes New South Wales, huge boulders are carried on top of cliffs 32 metres high. Several junks are carried over sandbars far inland (Warrnambool; Wollongong where Chinese blue and white has been found in tsunami debris far inland). One of the wrecked treasure ships is impaled in a cliff at Moeraki, 45 degree bows up, and with a 45 degree list to starboard. Two burning junks are hurled into the cliff-face at Wakanui Beach, Ashburton, where their wreckage is buried deep beneath a Tsunami formed cliff, which also covers a stone built Chinese canal. The scene in New Zealand resembles a fleet of aircraft crashing simultaneously.

The tsunami radiates across the Pacific. Waves reaching Easter Island are 10 metres high. Many people drown, civilisation, including Chinese, destroyed. Waves reaching Peru and Chile devastate society along the coast, including Chinese settlements in north Peru. Junks are wrecked. People on Altiplano escape.......

Comet debris strikes South Island centred at Tananui (in Maori = �the big explosion�.) The airburst flattens trees within a radius of 40-80 kilometres of Tananui. Thousands of square kilometres of forest catch fire. The Chinese colony who have been mining gold, jade and antimony since the Han dynasty are burned alive. Maori legends of the area tell about �the falling of the skies, raging winds and massive and mysterious fires, storms from space� - the Maori name for Stewart Island translates as "Glowing sky". The sun is screened out, causing widespread death and decay. Local names describe the fireball (Ka = fire), viz. Waitepeka, Kaka Point and Oweka. Aboriginal legend describes all sorts of debris hitting the ground, and a hissing noise, which is most consistent with a comet. Song Chinese in the Catlins shelter in caves (Cathedral Bay) to avoid fireball. The flightless moa become desperate: they gather in large flocks before being burned alive. The Maori name �Manu Whakatan� translates as �the bird felled by a strange fire�."


And this incident from 1178 A.D.:
"Evidence Of Tunguska-type Impacts Over The Pacific Basin Around The Year 1178 A.D."
Link:
www.knowledge.co.uk...

and a link to the complete paper:
wwwesterni.unibg.it...

Excerpt:
"In year 1178 A.D., as related by Clube and Napier in their book The Cosmic Serpent, a strange event was observed to affect the Moon, which may be explained by a large impact on the hidden face, originating the Giordano Bruno crater. A number of observations suggest that catastrophic cometary or meteoritic impacts around the same time also affected the Pacific basin: Maori legends of great fires destroying forests and the moa bird, to be associated to the recently found Tapanui craters; dynastic changes and migrations throughout Polynesia; very intense El Ni�o activity with flooding of the coastal Peruvian regions; demise of the local Moche civilizations, and the birth of the Incas civilization higher in the Andes; the emigration of the Aztects from the Pacific coast to the interior in the most well protected area from tsunams; unusually intense typhoon activity in the Chinese-Japanese see; unusually strong floods in Northern China with diversion of the course of the Huang Ho; unusually cold wheather in the Mongolian plateau, probably a main reason for the Mongolians invading nearby areas; a great sign in the sky seen by the boy Gengis Khan forecasting his future of world master; the number of comets seen in the sky as recorded by Chinese astronomers was unusually higher."


Will see if I can find more. Still hoping to here from some of those that may have heard or know something of this, especially those from New Zealand and Australia.



regards
seekerof

Also found these reports/comments and articles:

"Presentations by Columbia University Scientists at the 115th Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America"
Link:
www.geosociety.org...

Excerpt:
"DID A BOLIDE IMPACT CAUSE CATASTROPHIC TSUNAMIS IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND?
Dallas H. Abbott, Research Scientist, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
In 1500 A.D. the archeological record shows the abandonment of coastal New Zealand. Abbott's research indicates that this was likely due to an extraterrestrial impact, the crater for which-approximately 20 km wide and 153 m deep-she has located on the New Zealand continental shelf."

"CORAL EVIDENCE FOR ABRUPT CHANGES IN OCEAN-ATMOSPHERE DYNAMICS IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC SINCE 1565 AD
Erica Hendy, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Hendy presents multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental records from eight massive coral colonies from Australia's Great Barrier Reef, spanning 120 to 420 years of continuous growth (1565 to 1985 AD). Her research shows that the 'Little Ice Age' (1450-1870 AD) was a period of stronger temperature gradients between the tropics and extratropics than observed during the 20th century, intensifying global atmospheric circulation."

�Mystic Fires of Tamaatea�: Attempts to creatively rewrite New Zealand�s cultural and tectonic past"
Link:
www.rsnz.govt.nz...

Excerpt:
"Bruce McFadgen
Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies,
Victoria University of Wellington, P.O. Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand.
Abstract �Mystic Fires of Tamaatea� is the title given to a section of a book entitled �Tsunami: The underrated hazard� written by Edward Bryant and published by Cambridge University Press in 2001. In it the author links New Zealand evidence for widespread forest destruction and Maori place-names and legends with the 15th century timing of an apparent Tunguska-type meteor impact in the South Island of New Zealand, Chinese, and Japanese meteor sightings, comets, and �mega�-tsunamis in Australia. This paper critically reviews the lines of evidence used, and finds no evidence, either Maori or geological, for a 15th century meteor impact in New Zealand. In the book, all Maori place-names have been incorrectly translated, the radiocarbon chronology is incorrect, and there is no consideration of the numerous potential tsunami sources that were active in New Zealand in the 15th century.

Keywords meteor impact; tsunami; Maori place-names; Maori legends; deforestation; 15th century; Australia; radiocarbon; New Zealand."

And from:
"AUSTRALIAN SPACEGUARD SURVEY
Tsunami from Asteroid/Comet Impacts"
Link:
www1.tpgi.com.au...

Excerpt:
"In some circumstances an ocean impact might even be less hazardous to mankind than a land impact because less debris will be thrown into the atmosphere and indirect effects might be reduced. For example, it has been noted by Mader (1998) that the Eltanin impact by a large asteroid (estimates range from 1km to 4km) into the ocean near Chile some 2 million years ago did not create a crater on the seabed and apparently did not result in mass extinction. Contemplate what could have happened if the object had struck a slightly more northerly latitude and a few hours earlier - perhaps continental Africa would have been the target. Would Australopithecus, such as "Lucy", have survived? (Update: maybe it wasn't so benign - see this ABC News item about primate extinctions)
Update 15 Feb 02: Steve Ward provided this dramatic graphic of the Eltanin impact (right click and View for a higher resolution)."


* "Simulation of tsunami generated by Eltanin impact near Chile. Extract from animation by Dr C Mader."*


The search goes on.........


regards
seekerof

[Edited on 8-12-2003 by Seekerof]

Found these today while at the campus:
"TSUNAMI LINK TO LEGEND"
Link:
omzg.sscc.ru...

Excerpt:
"An Aboriginal legend long thought by historians to mark the arrival of white men in Australia may refer to a giant tidal wave. Geologist Professor Ted Bryant believes the legend of a "white wave" that wiped out Aboriginal culture more than 200 years ago tells of a natural disaster that devastated the south coast of NSW after a comet strike in the Tasman Sea.

Most historians had assumed the legend referred to the coming of white men to Sydney Cove in January, 1788. Prof. Bryant told a major international research conference in Melbourne this week that the tidal wave was one of two giant tsunamis that hit the NSW coast in the past 1000 years.

The Wollongong University geologist estimates the tsunami was moving at about 350kmh when it hit the coast. He believes the earlier tsunami, which struck about 850 years ago, was probably even bigger.

Prof. Bryant linked the legend with a tsunami after he and a colleague found two telephone booth-sized boulders jammed one behind another in a crevice below a cliff face at Haycock Point near Merimbula. The boulders were well above any normal storm surge."


"Periodic mega-tsunami in the southwest Pacific: physical and human impacts"
Link:
atlas-conferences.com...

Excerpt:
"One recent tsunami around AD 1500 stands out. This event affected over 400 km of the Australian coastline. It is also recorded on the East Coast of New Zealand as well as on Lord Howe Island in the middle of the Tasman Sea. Aboriginal and Maori legends allude to a cosmogenic source for this event or one like it. The Maori legends can be dated around AD 1500 based upon the evidence for occupational burning on the South Island. In additional, cultural changes by Aborigines in Australia after this time lend support for a substantial tsunami. Presently, the point of impact responsible for the disaster has not been determined, but it probably lies southeast of New Zealand. The size of the meteorite or comet also remains problematic with the pattern of coastal erosion being better explained by a multiple fragmenting object."

"Tsunami in Australia: the risk"
Link:
www.uow.edu.au...

Excerpt:
"Also shown is the frequency of corrected radiocarbon ages from tsunami deposits along the New South Wales coast and Lord Howe Island. The panel entitled Fires of Tamaatea plots the frequency of corrected radiocarbon dates on burnt wood and peat from the South Island of New Zealand. This dates a Maori legend about the descent of fire from the sky that destroyed the landscape. The AD 1500 tsunami along the east coast of Australia corresponds to a peak in the comet and meteorite observations, and to the timing of Maori legends describing a comet hit. Dates are now coming from tsunami deposits on the east coast of New Zealand confirming this age. Astronomers believe that a comet came into the inner solar system within the last 20,000 years and fragmented. The Earth periodically passes through the most concentrate part of the debris trail at 500-1500 year intervals. The evidence suggests that one such fragment might have struck the Australian-New Zealand region 500 years ago. Except for random meteorites, the Earth will not intercept this comet trail again until AD 3000."

The link below this has a chart showing the the years and the comet, meteorite incidences from 0-1800 AD.
www.uow.edu.au...
*"Incidence of comets and meteorites between 0- AD 1800. The meteorite record sums Chinese, Japanese, and European observations. The comet record is only from Asia. The calibrated radiocarbon dates under the Mystic Fires of Tamaatea are from wood and peats burnt on the South Island of New Zealand. The Mystic Fires of Tamaatea refers to a Maori legend where fire from the sky scorched the Earth killing many people. The radiocarbon dates of prehistoric tsunami events in Australia are based on shell collected from tsunami deposits along the New South Wales coast and from Lord Howe Island."

Will keep searching....
Still hoping those folks from New Zealand or Australia might have more information on this and will see this thread to respond.......


regards
seekerof

[Edited on 9-12-2003 by Seekerof]

Found this interesting article today that seems to be connected to this "event":

"Did the Chinese discover New Zealand first?"
Link:
www.ashburtonguardian.co.nz...

Excerpt:
"A British amateur archaeologist believes he has found the remains of a 15th-century Chinese ship buried in cliffs at Wakanui Beach.
The claim is part of controversial research by Cedric Bell, a retired engineer who has spent the past year gathering what he believes is proof of an ancient Chinese civilisation in New Zealand, which pre-dated Maori by several centuries.
Mr Bell told the Ashburton Guardian there was evidence that a huge tsunami had hit the coast of New Zealand about 1422. The tsunami had been caused by a meteorite, which was believed to have landed in the sea south of Stewart Island.
What he believes to be the remains of an upturned Chinese junk is clearly outlined in cliffs at Wakanui Beach, about 300 metres south of the car park.
Mr Bell said there was growing evidence the Chinese had settled in New Zealand up to 2000 years ago."

And this article on one of the researchers studying this "event":

"Associate Professor Edward (Ted) Bryant, BA MSc"
Link:
www.uow.edu.au...

Excerpt:
"Ted is a physical geographer with broad interests in geomorphology and climatology. He is currently a member of the Research Centre for Landscape Change. Ongoing research interests involve natural hazards and the definition and mapping of geomorphic signatures of tsunami. In the past, Ted was keenly interested in the causes of sand beach erosion and the Quaternary evolution of coastal sand bodies along the New South Wales coastline."


I then decided to look up some simulation information pertaining to an asteroid or comet impact. I ran across this:

"Simulation of Asteroid/Comet Impacts with Earth"
Link:
www1.tpgi.com.au...

According to this article, an asteroid or comet that measures roughy 100-200 meters around could deliver the potential of a 300-megaton TNT blast and killing roughly about 3500 people, varying on population density, etc. Strangely, another article I found claims that a 100+ meter/comet impact would/will devastate approxly. 7,200+ square miles, which would equate to roughly a 47+ mile radius, and kill almost 3+/- million people if it hits an moderately "inhabited" area; which one will and does, on average, every 8,000+/- years or so.
"AUSTRALIAN SPACEGUARD SURVEY
Tsunami from Asteroid/Comet Impacts"
Link:
www4.tpg.com.au...


I also found that in October of this year, the Earth was missed by a "undetected" asteroid......
This report mentiones that it was "the closest near miss yet recorded"......:
"Astronomy Picture of the Day"
Link:
antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov...


I will keep digging on this as the time comes available.



regards
seekerof

[Edited on 26-12-2003 by Seekerof]

Another quality post by yourself Seekerof!

I do recall seeing a special on this a while ago on one of the massed documentary channels my TV delivers and it was an enthralling history.

The study on that was different and focussed on an island in the atlantic, one of the spanish holiday destinations, cant remember which, but the tsunami would be caused by the entire island basically falling into the see, this would cause a 300ft tidal wave to strike the eastern seaboard and the southern uk, affecting africa and other places in the region, the scary thing was, this was scheduled to happen within 100 years, and we'd only have a few hours notice.

Yeah...just me....
I've been trying to get those "knuckleheads" from New Zealand and there abouts to see this thread and comment on it....seems to be not working

No matter, I found it interesting and the more I dug for information, the more interesting that the subject got.

Thanks for responding though.


regards
seekerof

Damn knuckleheads!

I'll think you'll find the same thing has happened in the Bahama's, many of the rocks there are not indigenous to the region and are presumed to have been hurled from great distances.

What a treasure trove of info! How many hours did you spend on this? You know that we are just as defensless today against a bolide impact as they were back then. At least we should have some warning so we can panic and loot and go crazy.

Approxly. a couple hours Groingrinder.
I just happened to come across the initial article in my first post, part 1 and part 2, and found that it was a fairly major "event' that tok place in "our" relative short past.

I figured with all the 'Aussies' and those from NZ on this board that perhaps one or two of them would have some information or local 'talk' to add to this.

I ended up finding it all to be quite fascinating and as I mentioned before, the more I dug in on this "event' happening in the area of NZ and Australia, the more information I dug for and found. Still digging.....


regards
seekerof

Ok, took a while for this info to get along the net to our backward sheep ridden country

Heres a link with some info on the Tapanui blast, it has a slightly different slant to the same kind of thing.

Dunno if anyone has posted this, but here you go.

newzealand.0me.com...

That's an interesting link above from New Zealand that I skimmed over. It was a bit slow to load even with dsl. I thought this was all about asteroid impacts but that story was about ufo's or it sounded like some kind of alien agenda to slow down human development to keep us down. A mention of throwing humans into the dark ages was there (for the European dark ages). I had heard (from elsewhere) that possible meteor/asteroid impacts and extreme cold could account for the "dark ages" and that it may have really been darker than normal with less sunlight. Very interesting article.

wow great research, it is interesting to know some of the past from our (aus &NZ) region

I have heard of this story at moeraki, and its a load of bollocks according to geologists.

I didn't know about Wakanui beach though. I might go for a drive there this weekend with the camera and see what its about.

Fantastic info Seekerof, I never took much notice of the thread before...

One of the wrecked treasure ships is impaled in a cliff at Moeraki, 45 degree bows up, and with a 45 degree list to starboard. Two burning junks are hurled into the cliff-face at Wakanui Beach, Ashburton, where their wreckage is buried deep beneath a Tsunami formed cliff, which also covers a stone built Chinese canal. The scene in New Zealand resembles a fleet of aircraft crashing simultaneously.

[Edited on 12-3-2004 by Netchicken]

Just got back ... nothing there
Pics to follow....

OK here is the text about the site that spurred me on to finding it...

Two burning junks are hurled into the cliff-face at Wakanui Beach,
Ashburton, where their wreckage is buried deep beneath a Tsunami formed
cliff, which also covers a stone built Chinese canal. The scene in New Zealand
resembles a fleet of aircraft crashing simultaneously.

Sounds amazing doesn't it? I thought so,
so with my trusty camera I took off early on saturday to hunt this amazing site
down. After about 1 1/2 hours I found the place, an isolated stony beach
beautifull in its stark simplicity. Ranks of cliffs stood on th ebeach, seperated by dried river mouths, turned into pasture.

Following the instructions about 300 meters south of the carpark I headed in
the direction of these cliffs


As I got closer they loomed up, about 4 to 5 times the height of an adult...


Unfortunatly they were distressingly similar in their composition. The land in
this part of the country is made from washed down mountain rocks and light
soil. Alluvial soil, that is deposited by the rivers.

Unfortunatly this is EXACTLY the composition of the cliffs I found. ..
everywhere. The cliffs were made up of silt, fine clay and river stones.



Despite walking the entire length of a block of cliffs, about 2 miles, there was
no change in the composition of the cliffs themselves, just boring uniformity.

Now if there were the remains of a Tsunami "high in the cliffs" there there
would be wood, debris, etc, etc, but there is NOTHING, just what you expect
to find there. Not to mention no sign of "burning junks".

So what are we to make of this "story"?
If there was any tsunami, there wold be
debris spread along the coast regardless of which cliff you were standing at, but
none, of the cliffs I examed showed any sign of anything out of the ordinary.

The other cliffs that I saw from a distance were the same...


Sad, isnt it, not that the person is mistaken, but that the "facts" are a
blatent lie, there is no truth in this at all.

However the day was enjoyable, and on another beach, that I found after getting
lost, I spied this amazing sight....



Standing silently, and still on a beach, all pointing in the same direction were an
entire colony of shags. They seemed to be waiting for their wings to dry. I was
downwind of them and it smelt like wet wool and feathers. erie, reminded me of
the movie "the Birds".

Interesting how they all stood in one place with the edge of the group sharply
delineated.

[Edited on 12-3-2004 by Netchicken]

[Edited on 12-3-2004 by Netchicken]

ya gotta remember how log ago this happened. In the Snowy Range (Wyoming) I could point out places where there were gold mines, but you would probably never believe me by going off of the info you stated above (no offense, just making a point... not attacking). The mines have been caved in and pretty much overgrown with wild brushes, the old ties and rails have been picked over by people looking for lawn ornaments (mostly lawn ornaments). Basically the only remaining clue left is the strange pile of rocks nearby (mine tailings).

NOW, if you look closer at the area, you would notice small things like a buried bolt, or maybe a base of a nearby shack hidden by foliage, etc. These are the clues that tell someone that there was a mine there.

Nice pics, BTW... and thanks for taking the time to at least go there for yourself... that's dedication!

According to the local paper, Cedric Bell has been digging at the cliffs and found some burnt timber carbon dated..u guessed it.......1422 www.ashburtonguardian.co.nz...



[Edited on 16-3-2004 by selarius]

Netchicken, those are some beautiful pictures. Almost makes me want to move out there.

Besides some obvious mis-interpreted research or information, is their any merit to an event of this type magnitude happening in that area, in regards to the past? Do any of the native or indigenous inhabitants or their folk-lore mention anything about such an event taking place during the early 1400's?



selarius, great article.

I'm still doing some limited research into this, and will do more as the time comes available...between exams, papers, articles, work, life, etc.....24 hrs doesn't seem like much.



regards
seekerof

Read posts, read both G Mendez' books, 1421 and 1434, believe both.

Remember the widely disseminated 'fact' that we current humans are all from a few thousand originating in Africa, the EVE theory?

Well, consider that the supposition that underlies this theory is that EITHER the entire world was populated with all different DNA or that only one mitrochrondrial DNA existed, hence the "out of Africa EVE.

Are you ready to seriously consider that the entire known world was populated with all strains of DNA, implying that pre historical humans developed sailing and trade to such an extent that much of the landscape now considered natural was the result of mining, erosion due to loss of tree cover, etc?

And what would have caused such a collective loss of amnesia-----consider in Jacque-Yves Cousteau's book, The Human, the Orchid, and the Octopus, he records the words found on one of the Dead Sea scrolls: none exist who can retell the tale (similar).

Consider the possibility that this is accepted scientific reasoning but we are not included in this elite able to handle such foreboding knowledge. Meteorites, comets, able to drop out of the sky almost instantly--------consider the HAARP project being run by the US Gov in Alaska to determine the effects of high altitude electrical charges, imps and sprites.

In the 26 days prior to the Mahuika comet impact, a 'star' brightened in Canis Minor. Twenty six days would not be enough time to launch an attempt to intercept and destroy this arrow to Earth's heart.

About the water being 800 feet higher-------------is there that much water in a comet that would leave a 12 mile crater? Would there have been more than one impactor?

And the problem Gavin couldn't solve was the fact that after Zweng He's fleet surveyed the Pacific, his finding showed the Pacific much less in width than today, only 600 years later.

And so you have the multitude of theories: sea floor spreading, expanding Earth, etc., that proliferate today. What we don't have is the correct explanation.

katesisco