Did a Comet End the Younger Dryas or Was it Plasma Solar Flares

I've been entertaining myself with some online info about Gobekli Tepe lately, and came across a video of Dr. Robert Schoch talking about how the Younger Dryas may have ended (and may have also begun) with a blast of solar energy that essentially fried a good portion of the Earth at the time. I had always casually thought that it might have happened because of a comet or asteroid impact, but he makes a pretty good point that the geological and ice core evidence just doesn't bear that out.

I think the solar flare idea is a good one. They can happen pretty much at random. It wouldn't leave behind any real solid evidence, and it seems to link up to a lot of prehistory symbolism all around the planet while providing a possible explanation for such things as vitrified rock found in deserts and other areas far from volcanoes (no, not nuclear wars), the purposeful burying of Gobelki Tepe, people moving underground, massive floods and earthquakes, the destruction of Atlantis (yeah, yeah), burying the bearded Easter Island statues, and so on.

There's a link below to one article about it, which leads to others. I'm not 100 percent convinced, but I'm starting to think it makes more sense than the comet/asteroid impact. Hard to imagine how terrifying it would be to see massive, freaky looking plasma columns blasting away at the Earth from the sky, frying everything alive. It's a good story. I'm not enough of an expert to know whether it's true or not.

Solar Flares Plasma Ends Younger Dryas

Not saying it didn't, but it seems a stretch .... who was left to do the burying ?

"the purposeful burying of Gobelki Tepe, people moving underground, massive floods and earthquakes, the destruction of Atlantis (yeah, yeah), burying the bearded Easter Island statues, and so on"

And for what reason, for the dead or dying cultures.
Interesting concept though.

Our atmosphere was supposedly much thicker/heavier in the far ancient times, or so it is believed. It is interesting the unknown animals carved in relief on some of the stonework.

It is believed that the end of the Youngar Dryas was caused by the shutdown of the Atlantic conveyor, IE. Gulf Stream, by a large inclusion of fresh water into the Atlantic Ocean. This could have been caused by a burst of volcanic activity, asteroid impact or comet resulting in glacial melting. Don't know if a solar flare could have done it.

Some have suggested that there are changes in the Earth's layers every 10 millennia or so when a layer that was once elastic turns liquid increasing magma flows and increased volcanic activity.

A solar storm would have the same effect on the ice cores as would any other global catastrophe because of the heat involved to scorch rock, etc would start fires. The ash from world wide fires would of course show up in the samples just as would a comet or asteroid impact.

originally posted by: Blue Shift
I've been entertaining myself with some online info about Gobekli Tepe lately, and came across a video of Dr. Robert Schoch talking about how the Younger Dryas may have ended (and may have also begun) with a blast of solar energy that essentially fried a good portion of the Earth at the time. I had always casually thought that it might have happened because of a comet or asteroid impact, but he makes a pretty good point that the geological and ice core evidence just doesn't bear that out.

I think the solar flare idea is a good one. They can happen pretty much at random. It wouldn't leave behind any real solid evidence, and it seems to link up to a lot of prehistory symbolism all around the planet while providing a possible explanation for such things as vitrified rock found in deserts and other areas far from volcanoes (no, not nuclear wars), the purposeful burying of Gobelki Tepe, people moving underground, massive floods and earthquakes, the destruction of Atlantis (yeah, yeah), burying the bearded Easter Island statues, and so on.

There's a link below to one article about it, which leads to others. I'm not 100 percent convinced, but I'm starting to think it makes more sense than the comet/asteroid impact. Hard to imagine how terrifying it would be to see massive, freaky looking plasma columns blasting away at the Earth from the sky, frying everything alive. It's a good story. I'm not enough of an expert to know whether it's true or not.

Solar Flares Plasma Ends Younger Dryas

I know that back in 1989, where there was some electrical storm due to a solar flare, there was a giant reddish/green cross in the night sky directly opposite where the Sun was.

There is evidence for a thermonuclear event 11000 years ago, that was enough to create neutron bombardment that reached into chert stones.

a reply to: Blue Shift

Ive always felt there was more to the story...Ill say this, I have always felt radio carbon dating could, or rather would be flawed, by virtue of unseen parameters.

Something happened before and after 10k bc twice. Whatever it was rubbed out a million years of hominid history.

a reply to: Blue Shift

I think the solar flare idea is a good one. They can happen pretty much at random. It wouldn't leave behind any real solid evidence, and it seems to link up to a lot of prehistory symbolism all around the planet while providing a possible explanation for such things as vitrified rock found in deserts and other areas far from volcanoes (no, not nuclear wars),

It seems that you are confusing a solar flare with a CME. That article is talking about a CME and most of what he says is nonsense. The plasma of a CME is very diffuse (comparable in density to a laboratory vacuum). It is also greatly affected by two things; the Earth's magnetic field and the upper atmosphere. The combination of these two things mean that the solar plasma itself will never reach Earth's surface. No vitrified rock. In fact, not really noticeable to anyone on the Earth's surface.

But what can happen is that when those high energy particles from the Sun are directed by the Earth's magnetic field to the poles they are then directed downward to the upper atmosphere. When those particles encounter the atoms of the upper atmosphere they create the light show known as the aurora. In the process, they also produce Carbon 14. A very powerful CME would indeed leave solid evidence in the form of a 14C spike. It's happened.
www.nature.com...

originally posted by: BlueJacket
Something happened before and after 10k bc twice.

I could see where a first flare event would create a cool-down with all the forest ash going up into the sky. The second one could maybe provide the big thaw.

And I could see where that might stimulate a lot of fear / worship of the Sun.

As to answer you topic question. The Younger Dryas ended abruptly in 10 or 15 years. Not sure what caused it to end. Maybe the ecology returning to normal on its own with a sudden start of the Gulf Stream.

originally posted by: Phage
In the process, they also produce Carbon 14. A very powerful CME would indeed leave solid evidence in the form of a 14C spike. It's happened.

Would it be possible for something like that to blow off the top layers of the atmosphere and create enough turmoil in the magnetic field that some of it could reach the ground undeflected?

Too bad we still don't know much about the recent geological history of Mars. I wonder that if it happened to be in the same line of fire there would be evidence of it there.

An impact also would explain what set off the Younger Dryas period or "Big Freeze," a 1,300-year era of glacial conditions that has been well documented in ocean cores and ancient soil samples. A comet would have produced enormous fires that melted large chunks of the North American ice sheet, sending cold water into the world's oceans and disrupting the circulation of currents responsible for global heat transport, the researchers noted.

space.com - Case Closed? Comet Crash Killed Ice Age Beasts.
Original Post started here,
ATS: Case Closed? Comet Crash Killed Ice Age Beasts.

Later, I linked yet another source of "death from above": cosmic rays.

The comet does not have to leave an impact crater. The gasses go supercritical and the thing explodes turning any solid metals into hot, molten metal raining down (the tiny spheres in the linked thread), setting fires, killing things beneath it, etc. Kind of like the dash cam video of the Chelyabinsk meteor but more like what is thought to have happened at the Tunguska event (unless that was Tesla zapping Russia with a "death ray" on accident!)

"Death by sun" would take several things to happen all at once. In the scale of earth's housing us critters, that is a possibility. "Hot plasma" is an idea to consider. And can't ruled out.

But the simpler answer is comet.

eta: Ain't that the guy from Ancient Aliens??

a reply to: Blue Shift

Would it be possible for something like that to blow off the top layers of the atmosphere and create enough turmoil in the magnetic field that some of it could reach the ground undeflected?

A CME causes the magnetosphere to "wiggle" it doesn't make it go away. But even if it did, the atmosphere is far more dense than the plasma of the CME. A CME is really next to nothing. And nothing cannot penetrate the atmosphere.

originally posted by: TEOTWAWKIAIFF
eta: Ain't that the guy from Ancient Aliens??

He's one of the usual suspects, yeah. But he does have a Ph.D. in Geology and Geophysics from Yale (among other degrees), so maybe he's not a complete dope. I'd go along with him a lot quicker than I would a lot of those other guys.

The scorched earth is a good theory that I haven't heard much of.

If this were factual, we would have large areas on Earth 'burnt' and scorched, and the geological areas would be severely noticeable; black, charred, hardened etc.

The comet theory I've had a problem with, but feels more realistic.
The problem; it would be earth shattering almost literally depending on size, but definitely through impact.
Realistically; it would be devastating enough to wipe the large biological creatures of earth, and change plant/fauna (dramatically) as well.

I have my own theory about what happened aeons ago here on earth, that was cause and effect from an event that happened outside of Mars.

We had a planet between Mars and Jupiter, that was struck by a comet, which blew it up to smithereens.. causing its planetary/rocky core parts to fling in all sorts of directions.

Pieces smashed Mars, creating the "Scar of Mars", obliterating its surface life and atmosphere. Other parts flung towards Earth and caused the event of cataclysmic proportions.

The remainder of its body was absorbed by Jupiter and collected itself as what we call the asteroid belt.

I'm no professional, there may be gaps in my theory , but I've had this theory since I was in elementary school (I even wrote an essay about it in early grades!).

Thanks for sharing

a reply to: Blue Shift

New study has linked volcanism with all of the Big five extinctions...

"Now we can say that all of the 'Big Five' mass extinctions coincide with major volcanic events," adds co-author Paul Wignall, with the University of Leeds in England. "Until our discovery, this (late Devonian extinction) was the major exception."

ScienceDaily.com, May 1, 2018 - Mercury Rising: New evidence that volcanism triggered the late Devonian extinction

So that is a bit more recent than Schoh's material. At least mercury traces point to volcanism as actually playing a role. Which may coincide with space rock. Or may be the tectonic plate variety.

Thanks for posting the material, asking the question, and getting me to read somethings I didn't know about while getting back into the swing of things on ATS!

originally posted by: BlueJacket
a reply to: Blue Shift

Ive always felt there was more to the story...Ill say this, I have always felt radio carbon dating could, or rather would be flawed, by virtue of unseen parameters..

What exactly do you mean when saying 'flawed by virtue of unseen parameters'? Do you mean untestable and unaccounted for? Because the margin of error for and the efficacy of that specific method of radiometric dating is well documented and regularly tested and independently reproduced by various teams in every country on Earth. Or are you using radiocarbon interchangeably with radiometric? The former is a very specific test and the latter is a blanket term for all forms of dating utilizing radioactive decay.

Something happened before and after 10k bc twice. Whatever it was rubbed out a million years of hominid history.

How exactly is flawed radiocarbon dating accounting for the geological timeline being off by a million years? radiocarbon dating only refers to 14C dating and normal 14C dating is only accurate to around 50KA and 14C utilizing spectron microscopy only pushes it back to 100 KA because of its relatively short half life.

originally posted by: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

An impact also would explain what set off the Younger Dryas period or "Big Freeze," a 1,300-year era of glacial conditions that has been well documented in ocean cores and ancient soil samples. A comet would have produced enormous fires that melted large chunks of the North American ice sheet, sending cold water into the world's oceans and disrupting the circulation of currents responsible for global heat transport, the researchers noted.

space.com - Case Closed? Comet Crash Killed Ice Age Beasts.
Original Post started here,
ATS: Case Closed? Comet Crash Killed Ice Age Beasts.

Later, I linked yet another source of "death from above": cosmic rays.

The comet does not have to leave an impact crater. The gasses go supercritical and the thing explodes turning any solid metals into hot, molten metal raining down (the tiny spheres in the linked thread), setting fires, killing things beneath it, etc. Kind of like the dash cam video of the Chelyabinsk meteor but more like what is thought to have happened at the Tunguska event (unless that was Tesla zapping Russia with a "death ray" on accident!)

"Death by sun" would take several things to happen all at once. In the scale of earth's housing us critters, that is a possibility. "Hot plasma" is an idea to consider. And can't ruled out.

But the simpler answer is comet.

eta: Ain't that the guy from Ancient Aliens??

There's another option - a distant supernova

www.sciencedaily.com...

www.bibliotecapleyades.net...

Magnetic excursions occur every 10,000-20,000 years when the Earth's magnetic field becomes weak, and the poles may even reverse for a short time.

a reply to: stormcell

There's another option - a distant supernova

Not really. Your source:

Although Earth would have been exposed to an increased cosmic ray bombardment, the radiation would have been too weak to cause direct biological damage or trigger mass extinctions.

Magnetic excursions occur every 10,000-20,000 years

Actually not. The timing between excursions and reversals varies widely and runs more on the order of hundreds of thousands of years.

The non-impact theories do not stand up to the evidence of elevated Iridium, nano-diamonds and the chaotic destruction of monolithic structures caused most likely by massive floods and tsunami. Volcanoes can cause the later, however only cosmic velocity impacts can produce iridium and nano-diamonds.

a reply to: charlyv
Iridium doesn't have much to do with velocity.

Research published in 2012 has shown that the so-called "black mats" are easily explained by typical earth processes in wetland environments.[6] The study of black mats, that are common in prehistorical wetland deposits which represent shallow marshlands, that were from 6000 to 40,000 years ago in the southwestern USA and Atacama Desert in Chile, showed elevated concentrations of iridium and magnetic sediments, magnetic spherules and titanomagnetite grains. It was suggested that because these markers are found within or at the base of black mats, irrespective of age or location, suggests that these markers arise from processes common to wetland systems, and probably not as a result of catastrophic bolide impacts.[6]

en.wikipedia.org...

Nano diamonds?

For the second time in 10 years, Daulton has carefully reviewed the evidence, and found no evidence for a spike in nanodiamond concentration in Younger Dryas sediments. Because nanodiamonds are the strongest piece of evidence for the impact hypothesis, their absence effectively discredits it.

source.wustl.edu...