Platinum spike at Wonderkrater in South Africa dated to 12,809 years. Wonderkrater is a spring mound with an 8-meter-thick peat deposit in Limpopo Province, South Africa Platinum spike recalibrated to 12,809 years, plus or minus, matching signatures from 11 North American sites ICP mass spectrometry used on 100 mg sediment samples originally collected for pollen analysis by Louis Scott in 1982
At Wonderkrater spring mound in South Africa, Thackeray's team found a platinum spike dated to 12,809 ± years using ICP mass spectrometry on samples collected by Louis Scott in 1982. The signature matches 11 North American sites. A follow-up paper by Chris Moore was published on F1000.
Key Facts
- Wonderkrater is a spring mound with an 8-meter-thick peat deposit in Limpopo Province, South Africa
- Platinum spike recalibrated to 12,809 years, plus or minus, matching signatures from 11 North American sites
- ICP mass spectrometry used on 100 mg sediment samples originally collected for pollen analysis by Louis Scott in 1982
- Additional platinum group elements detected including iridium, osmium, palladium, gold, rubidium, chromium, and vanadium
- Thackeray's 2019 paper was published in Palaeontologia Africana with co-authors Louis Scott and Philip Peterson
- Follow-up paper titled "Extraterrestrial nano particle signatures at the Younger Dryas boundary 12,800 years ago from Wonderkrater South Africa" published as preprint on F1000 with Chris Moore as lead author
Related site: Wonderkrater — view location, images, and history on the Ancient Nerds map.
Source: The Younger Dryas Impact Evidence Has Reached Africa by The Cosmic Summit