STRUCK THE EARTH

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 32, 8 February 1933, Page 3

STRUCK THE EARTH

A GIANT COMET

AN AMERICAN DISCOVERY

ENORMOUS SCABS

An array of evidence,- which, in- the light of present knowledge, can be "best explained on the hypothesis that the earth haa been in.collision with a giant comet, more than' a third larger thaa Halley's Comet, between 100,000 and 1,000,000 years ago,, was presented before the annual winter meeting of. the American Association forth© Advancement of Science (says the "New-Tork Times"). , :.- . . This prehistoric epic was deciphered recently ■by Dr. >. A.' Melton,-Asso-ciate Professor of , Geology,, arid Dr. William Schriever,- ' .Professor "■' of Physics, both' of the. Pniversity "of Oklahoma, from a number of-gigantic holes in the ■ ground-in: the- Carolina's, known^as:"bays;" some of theinrriore thau 8000 feet long. - The-depressions were first observed "by- Professor Melton through.an aeroplane mosaic map made by him in 1930'0f 500' square miles in Horry County, S.C. . -.! By comparing. the ; enormous • scars in the ground and the. wide .territory they cover with the : known dents made by meteors, such as the Meteor Crater of Arizona, the huge ■ meteor that fell in Siberia in 1908,. and other known meteor craters, Dry Melton and Dr. Schriever. reaspn that the depressions in the ground in.-South Carolina could be explained only on the hypotheses that a comet.about 400 miles in diameter came- in violent collision with -the earth and was smashed to pieces after•'•: devastating an area that- would cover thirteen-of the largest Eastern- States—about 190,000 square miles. . The evidence further shows, that it 'was.'all over in a .minute or so. /' ;..' ■■" . WHAT.THE MAP. SHO^rSl, - • The aerial mosaic ;map, the scientists say, revealed numerous large,' smoothly elliptical depressions, averaging approximately half a .mile in' length. ■-Field trips during June, .1931, .and August, 1932, together with-studies^ o£-many aerial photographs .of." the-' Atlantic coastal plain, yielded the.;following, facts:—: ..., ' . . > ' ■ The region- of' occurrence ' is' the Atlantic Coastal. plain'between-Norfolkj Virginia; 'and the ■' Savannah Kiyer,, an area of. approximately 40,000' square miles.- •-..■■-'". -■■:.,.-; .''.;■[■.:■" ■ The individual depressions areismoothly elliptical in shape. : .'.-':- " " -: The long axes of all the-depressions thus seen -are ■ parallel ';>ndrtli-wcst-southeast lines. ■';'■:... Elevated rims • completely-- encircle some of -the depressions. .' • •An elevated.rim is invariably", higher at the south-eastern end. •: ; - .■-■•• There is a general 'increase [>■. of elliptieity with size. .. • ... ■ • "■'.■- Double and. triple■"concßntric"vrims. exist. .-; . ,;.i-".;._ :-JC'.'.'■'-' ■■ The depressions intersect-each nther; completeness of outline is maintained sometimes by the' larger and sometimes by the smaller. ■• ■■ ■ . These depressions are at least as old as the Pamlico: Terrace of. the late Pleistocene age and younger than the' Waccamaw formation of- the'Pilocene age. . . ■' . . .".;... All known geological processes -were considered carefully, but not', any of them, either, alone, or in. combination, could be made to explain.- satisfactorily these peculiar and striking-depressions, Dr. Melton arid Dr. Schrieye'r declate. The. impact of' a'shower-of meteors on the coastal plain '■ is suggested 'as the agent which caused * these depressions or scar's,'which are locally termed "bays,".they add. A'globular cluster of meteorites-ira.. comet—at least 400 miles in diameter approaching the region from the north-west' along a path inclined:to.the;horizontal,-"could have, produced■ the-scars^which,;at r .the present time, number 'more -than i-1500—

probably more than 3000 if-s'fflaileT .flneg are, included." ,- COULD HAVE DONE IT. "Such a globular cluster ofjneteorites," the scientists-sard, ""would produce- impact scars over, an elliptical area- of .400 miles" wide.'northeast-south. west, by 630 miles long, northwestsoutheast— au area "of 190^000 .jsqnare miles. Of this area only 40,000 square miles lie on the coastal plain; the remaining 150,000 square miles lie in the Atlantic Ocean, on the piedmont upland and in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. -There the relatively rapid erosion has probably completely erased the surface features of the scars since the supposed... impacts.. occurred—an interval.of time which may have .been more than a million years in length. "Although a meteorite enters tha earth's atmosphere with a velocity of the order of twenty-five miles per second, ,so much of its energy is absorbed while penetrating.-the atmosphere that even a large meteorite strikes the earth with a velocity of probably only half a dozen miles per'second. A shower of these- super-high : speed.-projectiles, such as might compose: the-nucleus-of a comet,: striking the surf ace -'of: the earth at an angle, would! produced a group of parallel elliptical splashes'such as are. to be observed in the Carolinas. ' If the meteorites approach, the earth from the north-west,, more" material would be splashed out. toward- the south-east, v and, as a result, the 'rima would .be largest on the south-eastern ends of the sears. This relationship in rim-size is clearly the case with the Carolina scars. ' • .. • . •. .. !_■. . "Since it would require a minute or more for a globular cluster, of meteorites 400 miles in diameter to strike the earth, a scar formed by one*of the bodies which struck first might be .partly obliterated. It would be expected that a largo scar might partially obscure a small one, and that a small one might intersect a large one, or even' that a small one might exist completely inside the. edge of a very large; one. Examples of all such cases are to b* seen in the Carolinas. ' 'The largest single impact-scar...of which an aerial photograph was available is more than 8000 ft long. However, the length of: this*scar is probably due to.its being a comlination of two impact-scars of which one was nearly • 7000 ft. long. Many' others nearly- two' miles in length are known be* yond the area photographed. ."•: NUCLEUS OF COMET. : . •-"If a shower of such size would not* strike frpm' the north-east or southwest :in- the North-Eastern .United States, the scarred area alone -would cover all the States of New York, Pennsylvania, 'Massachusetts, Connecticut, Bhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and large parts of "Vermont, New Hampshire, Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio; and in addition, half of Lake. Ontario and a-considerable area of" cpastaf-waters. :'; ' * "Observations made ■on Halley's Comet on its last visit in 19.10 indi.cated to the- astronomers- that,■ the diameter of its nucleus, was less than: ■ ■290 miles. "When the nueleiis of- this comet passed • between the sun and an. observer, it is reported that the 6bserver, using a 6in telescope, was able to see small sun-spots through, the nucleus of the comet without seeing any, trace of the nucleus itself. tions ,of this type ,have~ foreedr competent astronomers to the conclusion! that the nucleus of a comet is-composed of fragments and that it is-not one solid- mass. Some competent: astronomers are of the opinion that. Meteor jCrater,.Arizona, and the Siberian scars are the Tesul^s of the impacts.of the nuclei of tiny comets. If the impact scars in the "Carolinas were caused by a globular cluster of meteorites, 7 ifc seems Tery reasonable -to .suppose -that ' the cluster "was the nucleus Gf'.avcomefc much larger than the : fam6us: "Halley's' Comet. . ■ "That the elliptical: aepre'ssions ■ia the. Carolinas were caused by-meteor-ites, or the nucleus of a comet, is of course a hypothesis, but, the observed - facts seem to permit of no other, interpretation." . ; . In Greyfriars Churchyard, * Edinburgh, within fifty yards of the . entrance, are tombstones of date 1610, 1612, 1614, 1615, 1617, .1632..•;.-. The. tombstones are, fairly, large, ones. : ' '....-...