High-Temperature Melting at >2200 °C Provides Evidence of Cosmic Impact at Abu Hureyra, Syria at the Younger Dryas Onset (~12.8 KA)
Abstrakt
The observed range of characteristics for AH glass (e.g., low water, high-temperature minerals, low remanent magnetism, and minerals with low oxygen fugacity) allow us to exclude all potential origins for AH glass, except cosmic impact glass and tektites, with the latter offering the best match. Thus, the formation of AH glass appears to require the occurrence at Abu Hureyra of an intense and sudden high-temperature event similar to the ones that produced tektites.
The collective evidence is best explained by the hypothesis that at least one high-energy, high-temperature, hypervelocity airburst occurred near Abu Hureyra ~12,800 years ago, possibly accompanied by ground impacts.