From: "Tom Van Flandern" <tvf@mindspring.com>
To: "'Bill Payne'" <bpayne15@juno.com>
Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1999 02:05:20 -0500
Subject: RE: Re: Fw: RE: EPH - Tom Van Flandern
Message-ID: <000e01be7b44$eca85540$4848f7a5@g6400>
Bill,
>> The most recent (a relatively small explosion, probably of a
Moon-sized
>> body) at 3.2 million years ago corresponds with the
Pliocene-Pleistocene
>> boundary, the end of a tropical pole-to-pole climate period, and the
>> onset of the continuing series of glaciation cycles. New evidence in
just
>> the last six months from Peter Schultz indicates a major cratering
event
>> in Argentina coinciding with that boundary.
> That's not the Plio-Pleistocene boundary.
There is a boundary layer at that epoch. Call it the Zanclian-Piacenzian
boundary then. The boundary name is not important. It's what happened on
Earth at that point that is important.
> The South Pole had been cold for about 30 million years by that point.
That seems to be controversial. But again, the key point is the onset of
glaciation episodes. Schultz himself, a planetary geologist, indicates
his
new Argentinian discovery at 3.3 Ma may be a possible trigger for
glaciation.
> To cause a single crater, there is no need for a planetary explosion.
Before a few months ago, we knew of zero craters at that epoch. Now we
know
of one. By extrapolation, in 50 years we'll know about hundreds. :-)
The explosion at 3.2-3.3 Ma was of a minor, Moon-sized,
high-water-content
body. So the effects on Earth were minor compared to the effects of the
last
planet explosion at 65 Ma. -|Tom|-
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