Large Pt Anomaly in the Greenland Ice Core Points to a Cataclysm at the Onset of Younger Dryas
One explanation of the abrupt cooling episode known as the Younger Dryas (YD) is a cosmic impact or airburst at the YD boundary (YDB) that triggered cooling and resulted in other calamities, including the disappearance of the Clovis culture and the extinction of many large mammal species. We tested...
Published in: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
2013
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37374252 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1303924110 |
id |
ftharvardudash:oai:dash.harvard.edu:1/37374252 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftharvardudash:oai:dash.harvard.edu:1/37374252 2023-05-15T16:28:14+02:00 Large Pt Anomaly in the Greenland Ice Core Points to a Cataclysm at the Onset of Younger Dryas Petaev, Michail I. Huang, Shichun Jacobsen, Stein Bjornar Zindler, Alan 2013 application/pdf https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37374252 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1303924110 en_US eng Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences doi:10.1073/pnas.1303924110 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Petaev, Michail I., Shichun Huang, Stein B. Jacobsen, and Alan Zindler. 2013. Large Pt Anomaly in the Greenland Ice Core Points to a Cataclysm at the Onset of Younger Dryas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110, no. 32: 12917–12920. 0027-8424 1091-6490 https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37374252 meteorite impact climate change ICP-MS analysis PGE Journal Article 2013 ftharvardudash https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1303924110 2023-02-11T23:20:19Z One explanation of the abrupt cooling episode known as the Younger Dryas (YD) is a cosmic impact or airburst at the YD boundary (YDB) that triggered cooling and resulted in other calamities, including the disappearance of the Clovis culture and the extinction of many large mammal species. We tested the YDB impact hypothesis by analyzing ice samples from the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2) ice core across the Bølling-Allerød/YD boundary for major and trace elements. We found a large Pt anomaly at the YDB, not accompanied by a prominent Ir anomaly, with the Pt/Ir ratios at the Pt peak exceeding those in known terrestrial and extraterrestrial materials. Whereas the highly fractionated Pt/Ir ratio rules out mantle or chondritic sources of the Pt anomaly, it does not allow positive identification of the source. Circumstantial evidence such as very high, superchondritic Pt/Al ratios associated with the Pt anomaly and its timing, different from other major events recorded on the GISP2 ice core such as well-understood sulfate spikes caused by volcanic activity and the ammonium and nitrate spike due to the biomass destruction, hints for an extraterrestrial source of Pt. Such a source could have been a highly differentiated object like an Ir-poor iron meteorite that is unlikely to result in an airburst or trigger wide wildfires proposed by the YDB impact hypothesis. Earth and Planetary Sciences Accepted Manuscript Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Greenland ice core Greenland Ice Sheet Project ice core Ice Sheet Harvard University: DASH - Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard Greenland Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110 32 12917 12920 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Harvard University: DASH - Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard |
op_collection_id |
ftharvardudash |
language |
English |
topic |
meteorite impact climate change ICP-MS analysis PGE |
spellingShingle |
meteorite impact climate change ICP-MS analysis PGE Petaev, Michail I. Huang, Shichun Jacobsen, Stein Bjornar Zindler, Alan Large Pt Anomaly in the Greenland Ice Core Points to a Cataclysm at the Onset of Younger Dryas |
topic_facet |
meteorite impact climate change ICP-MS analysis PGE |
description |
One explanation of the abrupt cooling episode known as the Younger Dryas (YD) is a cosmic impact or airburst at the YD boundary (YDB) that triggered cooling and resulted in other calamities, including the disappearance of the Clovis culture and the extinction of many large mammal species. We tested the YDB impact hypothesis by analyzing ice samples from the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2) ice core across the Bølling-Allerød/YD boundary for major and trace elements. We found a large Pt anomaly at the YDB, not accompanied by a prominent Ir anomaly, with the Pt/Ir ratios at the Pt peak exceeding those in known terrestrial and extraterrestrial materials. Whereas the highly fractionated Pt/Ir ratio rules out mantle or chondritic sources of the Pt anomaly, it does not allow positive identification of the source. Circumstantial evidence such as very high, superchondritic Pt/Al ratios associated with the Pt anomaly and its timing, different from other major events recorded on the GISP2 ice core such as well-understood sulfate spikes caused by volcanic activity and the ammonium and nitrate spike due to the biomass destruction, hints for an extraterrestrial source of Pt. Such a source could have been a highly differentiated object like an Ir-poor iron meteorite that is unlikely to result in an airburst or trigger wide wildfires proposed by the YDB impact hypothesis. Earth and Planetary Sciences Accepted Manuscript |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Petaev, Michail I. Huang, Shichun Jacobsen, Stein Bjornar Zindler, Alan |
author_facet |
Petaev, Michail I. Huang, Shichun Jacobsen, Stein Bjornar Zindler, Alan |
author_sort |
Petaev, Michail I. |
title |
Large Pt Anomaly in the Greenland Ice Core Points to a Cataclysm at the Onset of Younger Dryas |
title_short |
Large Pt Anomaly in the Greenland Ice Core Points to a Cataclysm at the Onset of Younger Dryas |
title_full |
Large Pt Anomaly in the Greenland Ice Core Points to a Cataclysm at the Onset of Younger Dryas |
title_fullStr |
Large Pt Anomaly in the Greenland Ice Core Points to a Cataclysm at the Onset of Younger Dryas |
title_full_unstemmed |
Large Pt Anomaly in the Greenland Ice Core Points to a Cataclysm at the Onset of Younger Dryas |
title_sort |
large pt anomaly in the greenland ice core points to a cataclysm at the onset of younger dryas |
publisher |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37374252 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1303924110 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Greenland ice core Greenland Ice Sheet Project ice core Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Greenland Greenland ice core Greenland Ice Sheet Project ice core Ice Sheet |
op_relation |
doi:10.1073/pnas.1303924110 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Petaev, Michail I., Shichun Huang, Stein B. Jacobsen, and Alan Zindler. 2013. Large Pt Anomaly in the Greenland Ice Core Points to a Cataclysm at the Onset of Younger Dryas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110, no. 32: 12917–12920. 0027-8424 1091-6490 https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37374252 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1303924110 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
container_volume |
110 |
container_issue |
32 |
container_start_page |
12917 |
op_container_end_page |
12920 |
_version_ |
1766017871028158464 |