We don’t notice it, but the earth is exposed to a constant cosmic rain rain. The vast majority of them are tiny micrometers who, according to estimates in the atmosphere, burn up to 100 tons a day. But sometimes much larger objects beat the earth. The most noteworthy is probably the chicxulub impactor, which extinguished the dinosaurs and left a massive crater that was now buried.
There are many other great potential effects that explode above the surface, which are called TouchDown Airburtsts, and their effect on earth is much more difficult to quantify. New studies suggest that a swarm of ruins from an exploding comet left its mark by triggering the younger Dryas, a time of abrupt cooling around 12,000 years ago. The researchers say that the touchdown Airburst and the resulting younger dryas have led to extinction of Megafauna and the disappearance of the Clovis culture.
Their results support the younger Dryas Impact hypothesis (YDIH), in which the effects of a decaying asteroid or comets are responsible for the abrupt cooling of the earth. The YDIH is not widespread in the science community. Critics promote the lack of an impact crater as evidence against the YDIH. They also say that other evidence that supports it can best be explained by other causes.
New research showed information on the effects of comets at locations in Clovis culture, a culture that was ended at the same time as the younger Dryas. Will this new research lead to a more comprehensive acceptance of the YDIH?
Research appears in Plos One. It bears the title “Schocker Quarz at the younger Dryas Onset (12.8 KA) supports cosmic airburks/effects that contribute to extinction of the North American mega jacks and collapse the Clovis technoc complex”, and the leading author is James Kennett. Kennet is the emeritus professor of geosciences from UC Santa Barbara.
Research is based on the discovery of the shocked quartz at three well-known Clovis locations: Murray Springs in Arizona, Blackwater Draw in New Mexico and Arlington Canyon on the Californian Canal Islands.
The researchers found a shocked quartz from the younger Dryas at three Clovis locations in the United States. Photo credits: USGS. Creative Commons Attribution license (CC from 4.0).
“These three locations were classic locations in the discovery and documentation of the Mega -Launal extension in North America and the disappearance of the Clovis culture,” said the main author Kennett in a press release.
Shocked quartz are grains of sand that are deformed by extreme pressure and heat. It was discovered for the first time after underground nuclear weapons had been tested. It is also found in Impact Craters, and it is known that lightning.
“If cosmic airburks detonate with enough energy and in a sufficiently small height, the resulting relatively small, high -speed fragments can occur with high pressures of the earth to create thermal and mechanical shocks, breed quartz grains and insert silica into the fractures,” the authors write in their research. “Here we report on the discovery of shocked quartz grains in a layer of the younger Dryas (YD) in three classic archaeological sequences in the southwest of the United States.”
The researchers used 10 different analytical techniques, including electron microscopy, and found grains with fractures filled with glass, which was found very similar to the type that was generated by seed explosions and in 27 different effects on crater. They were also made in 11 laboratory shock experiments. “All research, including this study, showed that non-shocked quartz fractures without glass filling are very common in non-impact layers, but quartz fractures that are filled with melted silica were only reported in shifts,” the researchers write.
“These shocked grains are with previously reported top concentrations in platinum, meltglas, soot and nanodiamonds together with microsphereuli, similar to ~ 28 microspheric ball layers that are accepted as evidence of cosmic effects events, together with microspheres, even without known crater”. The researchers explain.
This figure shows the calibrated age of the YDB layer in the three places. “All data for the three locations overlap the predicted age range and support a synchronized YDB age within 68.3% and 95.4% confidence interval (CI),” write the authors. Photo credits: Kennett et al. 2025. PLOS ONE
The YDIH states that the exploding comet also creates widespread fires and suffocated the sky with ashes, which led to the abrupt cooling that defines the younger dryas. Under these hard conditions, the Clovis culture collapsed and megauna such as woolen mammuts were died out.
“In other words, hell broke out,” said Kennett.
The YDIH has many supporters, and they have discovered evidence of this over the past few decades. A piece of evidence is the “black mat” layer found in sediments in different locations, mainly in the northern hemisphere. YdiH advocates say this indicates the mass burner triggered by the airburst. Further evidence include microspheres, nanodiamonds and platinum.
This figure summarizes the stratigraphic context and the proxy evidence for a potential younger Dryas impact event near Arlington Canyon, a well-dated coastal area on the island of Santa Rosa. The yellow arrows in C show the younger Dryas border. The researchers found the shock -fractured quartz and earlier examinations found the other evidence. The Kennett and its co-authors indicate that the frequency of all evidence is significantly higher than background sources. Photo credits: Kennett et al. 2025. PLOS ONE
“The YDB layer in the three places was previously interpreted as from several airburks/effects of large comet fragments based on the lace frequencies of derived airburst/impact-related proxies,” the authors write.
Impact crater are slam-dark evidence for fatal effects. But in their absence, according to the researchers quartz with glass fractures, the next best. In combination with others, her presence contributes to the weight of the YDIH.
The YDIH has faced a strong headwind and continues to look. Other researchers say there are other explanations for the evidence of the hypothesis. They also point out that there were many episodes like the younger Dryas and that no exploding comet is needed to explain one of them. However, the authors say that their new knowledge “strongly support the hypothesis” and at the same time acknowledge that “this interpretation is faced with challenges”.
“By combining the physical evidence of an impact event with well-established archaeological and paleontological records, our results contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of this critical period in the recent history of the earth,” the researchers write. “This research illuminates past events and offers insights into the potential global effects of cosmic effects on the climate, ecosystems and human societies,” they conclude.
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