Holocene Impact Working Group

The Holocene Impact Working Group is a group of six scientists who hypothesize that meteorite impacts on Earth are more common than according to current scientific consensus.

The group posits one large impact (equivalent to a 10-megaton bomb) every 1,000 years. This estimate is based on evidence of five to ten large impact events in the last 10,000 years. Satellite observations suggest the presence of many recent impact craters and landforms such as chevrons which some scientists believe were caused by megatsunamis. The chevrons often point in the direction of specific hypothesized impact craters, the supposition being that the chevrons were deposited by tsunamis originating from the impacts which formed those proposed craters. However, a study of chevrons by University of Washington geologist and tsunami expert Jody Bourgeois shows they are not consistent with the tsunami hypothesis.^[1]

The group claims an impact event off the coasts of Australia and Madagascar around 2800 BCE,^[2] created an underwater feature it calls Burckle Crater. When the group made the hypothesis public in 2006, they acknowledged it was likely to be controversial: "I wouldn't expect 99.9 per cent of (the scientific community) to agree with us"^[3] The hypothesis is contradicted by much of what is currently understood about impacts and tsunamis.

The group is profiled in a 2012 episode of History's Universe series, titled When Space Changed History.^[4]

Current and past group members include:

• Associate Professor Ted Bryant, geomorphologist, Wollongong University, Australia
• Dr. Dallas Abbott, research scientist, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, New York City
• Slava Gusiakov, Novosibirsk Tsunami Laboratory, Russia
• Marie-Agnès Courty, soil scientist, European Center for Prehistoric Research, Tautavel, France
• Dee Breger, director of microscopy, Drexel University, Philadelphia
• Bruce Masse, environmental archaeologist, Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico

References

1. "Past Tsunamis? Contrary To Recent Hypothesis, 'Chevrons' Are Not Evidence of Megatsunamis". Retrieved 2010-02-11.
2. Easterbrook, Gregg. The Sky Is Falling, The Atlantic, June 1, 2008. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
3. Colvin, Mark. Researchers Claim Link Between Tsunamis and Outer Space, ABC Radio, November 14, 2006.
4. "When Space Changed History". History Channel H2. June 17, 2012.

External links

Official website

• Meteor 'misfits' find proof in sea Impacts more recent and often, researchers say
• Impact Craters as Sources of Megatsunami Generated Chevron Dunes
• Transcript of ABC interview with Ted Bryant
• New York Times "Ancient Crash, Epic Wave" (11.14.06) – Requires login/account
• Chevron-shaped Accumulations Along the Coastlines of Australia as Potential Tsunami Evidences? Science of Tsunami Hazards (2003), Vol. 21, No. 3, p 174.
• The Holocene Tüttensee meteorite impact crater in southeast Germany
• Pinter, N., and S.E. Ishman, 2008, Impacts, mega-tsunami, and other extraordinary claims PDF version, 304 KB. GSA Today. vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 37–38.
• Impact Structure (Crater) Explorations