By STACY LIBERATORE, U.S. SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR
A discovery beneath the ocean floor has revealed evidence of a catastrophic event that may be linked to the destruction of the legendary lost city of Atlantis.
Some researchers, including well-known author Graham Hancock, have long proposed that around 12,800 years ago, a giant comet passed through Earth’s atmosphere, triggering devastation that wiped out advanced civilizations worldwide.
While credible proof of Atlantis itself remains elusive, scientists have now uncovered geochemical clues supporting the theory of this cataclysmic event, known as the Younger Dryas.
The controversial Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis (YDIH) suggests Earth passed through debris from a disintegrating comet.
The resulting impacts and shockwaves destabilized massive ice sheets, causing massive flooding that disrupted crucial ocean currents and triggered rapid climate cooling.
Now, researchers led by the University of South Carolina have uncovered metallic debris, like comet dust and thousands of tiny microspherules, in Baffin Bay seafloor sediments, strengthening the comet impact theory.
Archaeologist Marc Young, co-author of the study, told the Daily Mail: ‘The Younger Dryas onset is associated with significant changes in human population dynamics all over the planet, though mostly in the northern hemisphere.
‘Several independent studies over the last few years have shown conclusively that most of the megafaunal species that went extinct disappeared precisely at that time.’
While credible proof of Atlantis itself remains elusive, scientists have now uncovered geochemical clues supporting the theory of this cataclysmic event, known as the Younger Dryasn (STOCK)
Many mainstream scientists argue that the cooling was caused not by a comet but by glacial meltwater flooding the Atlantic Ocean.
This influx of fresh water weakened ocean currents that transport warm tropical waters northward, leading to the temperature drop.
However, Young pointed out that ‘such cooling events have occurred dozens of times over the last 100,000 years, but none caused megafauna extinctions, wiped out human populations, or deposited a global layer of impact debris like the YD did.’
He added: ‘Furthermore, the release of meltwater into the oceans at the YD onset was orders of magnitude larger than previous events, causing a near-instantaneous global sea level rise of over 16 feet, while past sea level rises during similar coolings were negligible.’
The sediment cores analyzed by the team serve as historical records, preserving layers of mud, sand and particles deposited over millennia.
By examining these layers, scientists can reconstruct past climates, ecosystems and geological events.
The four cores were collected from locations spanning about 620 miles across Baffin Bay, from shallow waters near Jones Sound to deeper areas near Davis Strait.
The cores were taken from water depths between 1,640 and 7,870 feet.
Scientists have found evidence of a comet crashing through Earth’s atmosphere 12,800 years ago. This aligns with the controversial Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis. Pictured are microspherules that have extraterrestrial properties
The four cores were collected from locations spanning about 620 miles across Baffin Bay, from shallow waters near Jones Sound to deeper areas near Davis Strait
Iron-rich and silica-rich tiny spherical particles, or microspherules, were found in layers of the sediment cores dating back 12,800 years.
These microspherules formed at very high temperatures, with bubbles, branching surface patterns and aerodynamic shapes that suggested they traveled fast through the air.
The iron-rich microspherules also contained small blobs of a low-oxygen metal that is chemically between chromite and chromium-magnetite, minerals found in certain types of meteorites and impact materials.
Led by Christopher R Moore, the researchers also detected a pronounced spike in platinum, a rare element often enriched during extraterrestrial impacts, in the same sediment layers containing the microspherules and comet dust.
Fragments of melted glass and grains were also found, including melted clusters with iron-rich particles and quartz that melted or boiled at very high temperatures.
These also included glass rich in iron, chromium, potassium and titanium.
The theory says that Earth passed through debris from a disintegrating comet. Fragments of meltglass and melted grains were identified on the seafloor, which formed through extreme temperatures
Small blobs of melted chromite, iron-chromium-nickel alloys, iron oxide, and tungsten were found fused onto quartz and magnetite grains from the Younger Dryas Boundary layers in the cores.
These metallic blobs mostly consist of native nickel, iron-chromium-nickel alloys, and chromite, and they look very similar to melted splatters on minerals found in South Carolina that have been identified as cometary dust particles.
Young emphasized the significance of this ocean-based evidence: ‘Until now, no oceanic sediment cores had been used to test the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis.
‘This is the first and only ocean-based geochemical evidence for the hypothesis since it was proposed in 2007.
‘Importantly, it’s the first time anyone has looked, and finding this evidence on the very first attempt is very promising. Technically, we have a 100 percent replication rate in ocean cores based on this data.’
These findings indicate a geochemical anomaly occurring around when the Younger Dryas event began, but they do not provide direct evidence supporting the impact hypothesis, according to the team.
The resulting impacts and shockwaves destabilized massive ice sheets, causing massive flooding that disrupted crucial ocean currents and triggered rapid climate cooling. The team also uncovered metallic dust particles, features of comets
More research is needed to confirm whether the findings are indeed evidence of impact, and to firmly link an impact to climate cooling.
‘Our identification of a Younger Dryas impact layer in deep marine sediments underscores the potential of oceanic records to broaden our understanding of this event and its climatological impacts,’ Moore said.
Co-author Dr Mohammed Baalousha added: ‘It is great to implement our unique nano-analytical tools in a new area of study, namely the analysis of nanoparticles generated or transported to the Baffin Bay core site during the Younger Dryas.
‘We are always happy to implement our tools to support our colleagues and explore new frontiers.’
