In the video, Arbuthnot argues that a cosmic impact or air burst around 12,900 years ago could have triggered Younger Dryas cooling and contributed to late-Pleistocene extinctions. He cites roughly 75% losses among megafauna, with separate losses among birds and insects, and points to disputed evidence such as microdiamonds and Carolina bays. He also argues that catastrophe plus human hunting is more parsimonious than overhunting alone, and recalls that catastrophe theories moved from dismissal during his late-1990s graduate years to greater acceptance within about a decade. Extinction severity varied by region, but substantial losses occurred on several continents. The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis remains disputed and has been rejected by many researchers.
Arbuthnot argues disputed Younger Dryas impact hypothesis explains extinctions
Key facts
- Arbuthnot argues that an impact or air burst around 12,900 years before present could have triggered Younger Dryas cooling and widespread extinctions.
- He cites estimates of roughly 75% late-Pleistocene megafaunal losses; birds and insects also experienced losses, but insects are not megafauna.
- Late-Pleistocene extinction severity varied by region, but substantial losses occurred on several continents.
- Proponents cite microdiamonds and Carolina bays as evidence, but their interpretation and the broader hypothesis remain disputed.
- Arbuthnot uses Occam's razor to argue that catastrophe plus human hunting is more parsimonious than overhunting alone.
- He recalls that catastrophe theories were dismissed during his graduate years in the late 1990s and gained wider acceptance over the following decade.
- The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis is not the established consensus and has been rejected by many relevant researchers.
Sources
Younger Dryas impact hypothesis - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH) is a widely refuted fringe hypothesis for the cause of the sudden influx of freshwater into the ocean which ...
The case of the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis - PMCpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
The hypothesis proposes that the airburst or impact of a comet ∼12,850 years ago caused the ensuing ∼1200-year-long Younger Dryas (YD) cool period and ...
The Comet Strike Theory That Just Won't Die - The New York Timesnytimes.com
In the lake cores from the Younger Dryas that she was studying, there was no abrupt spike in charcoal to suggest catastrophic fires. Pollen ...
The Evidence for the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesishumanoriginproject.com
The Younger Dryas lasted 1200 years long before an intense global warming event of 10-15 degrees. During this time human populations were severely affected. The ...
Did a comet burst crash Earth's climate 12,800 years ago? - EarthSkyearthsky.org
The comet burst could have triggered the Younger Dryas cooling period, which lasted around 1,200 years. Exotic materials and microscopic ...
The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis: a cosmic catastropheui.adsabs.harvard.edu
In this paper we review the evidence for the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH), which proposes that at ∼12.9k cal a BP North America, South America, ...
Requiem for the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis?realclimate.org
The Younger Dryas (YD) impact hypothesis is a recent theory that suggests that a cometary or meteoritic body or bodies hit and/or exploded over ...
Two examples of abrupt climate changeocp.ldeo.columbia.edu
An event that occurred about 12,800 years before present (BP), termed the Younger Dryas (YD), is the canonical example of abrupt climate change.
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