In the past five million years, the biggest cataclysmic event that’s ever been recorded, happened 12,800 years ago, ending 11,600 years ago. This event is largely known as Younger Dryas. It was a worldwide cataclysm caused by an asteroidal impact in some places causing thousand-foot waves in parts of the North American continent. In other areas, water rose roughly up to 1,200 feet above sea level. Graham Hancock, an investigative journalist that researches ancient civilizations and cataclysmic events, recognizes the significance of this event. In his book, Magicians of the Gods, he acknowledges the significance of the impact and the advanced civilizations lost. Hancock refers to Allen West when he mentions that West suggested: “that smaller, low-density parts of the comet would have exploded into the atmosphere, while larger fragments might have crashed into the two-mile deep ice cap that covered North America at the time” (88). When the comet made an impact with the iceberg, it instantly vaporized it creating giant craters and waterfalls.
A couple of examples of these craters are Dry Falls (figure 2) and Wallula Gap. Both are well known for their deeply water eroded and carved, valley-like craters. The fast flood also carried thousands of giant icebergs “as big as oil-tankers with house-sized boulders frozen inside them” (Hancock 76). Eventually, as the flood subsided, the icebergs melted, leaving the boulders where they sit. An example of these boulders would be “Graham’s Erratic” (figure 1), mentioned by Randall Carlson. Many argue that it was a global warming event that melted the ice age to cause the flood. In a Ted Talk, Graham Hancock and Randall Carlson, his geologist and geometrician friend, mention that a nanodiamond-rich layer spread acrossthree continents as the comet made an impact with the atmosphere and earth. The comet impact left several traces in the atmosphere and in the Earth’s crust.
Carlson refers to the article “Nanodiamond-Rich Layer across Three Continents Consistent with Major Impact at 12,800 CL BP” by Charles R. Kinzie and others when it says that these nanoparticles “form under exotic temperatures and pressures not present naturally at the Earth’s surface or atmosphere but similar to conditions related to cosmic impact” (Kinzie 476). This evidence debunks any opposing ideas that the event didn’t occur from an extra-terrestrial mass, such as an asteroid or comet. All collected samples, observations, or evidence show the same material, of the exact same age, over a particular space.
Have you ever been to the beach and noticed the ripples that form as the wave pulls back in? This image shows those same ripples but on a much larger scale. Can you imagine the size of the flood that created these textures in the rough ground? (Hancock, 2016)
Many civilizations were alive at this time of the impact, yet continued to survive the intense weather and environmental changes over a thousand years. One theory that Graham Hancock has made, is that those that weren’t near caves, dug underground with tunnels. The “Derinkuyu Underground City” is a great example of these great tunnels. They had agriculture, raised livestock, and a community of about 20,000 people. It’s important to know about the Younger Dryas impact to carry on the knowledge of what to do during a cataclysmic event. Currently, there aren’t enough satellites to determine if such an event could occur. By spreading this knowledge, we can shift our focus to preparing for the future of the planet.
Works Cited
Hancock, Graham. Magicians of the Gods. Thomas Dunne Books, 2017.
“Joe Rogan Experience #872 - Graham Hancock & Randall Carlson.” YouTube, 16 Nov. 2016, youtu.be/0H5LCLljJho.
Kinzie, Charles R. “(PDF) Nanodiamond-Rich Layer across Three Continents Consistent with Major Cosmic Impact at 12,800 Cal BP.” ResearchGate, www.researchgate.net/publication/268390328_Nanodiamond-Rich_Layer_Across_Three_Continents_Consistent_with_Major_Cosmic_Impact_at_12800_Cal_BP.