Pleistocene meteor crater on Greenland

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the discovery of a large meteor crater in Northern Greenland, believed to date back to the Pleistocene epoch. Participants explore the implications of this finding for paleoclimate changes, potential connections to historical events like the Younger Dryas period, and the nature of the crater itself.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants highlight the discovery of a 31 km wide crater under a glacier in Greenland, noting the uncertainty in dating the impact event to the Pleistocene.
  • Others reference a review that discusses the potential climate-altering effects of the impact, including its possible connection to the Younger Dryas period.
  • One participant raises the possibility that the crater could be much older than the Pleistocene, suggesting it might be misidentified as a volcanic feature.
  • Another participant asserts that volcanic eruptions do not produce shocked quartz, countering the idea that the feature could be volcanic.
  • There is mention of a tektite strewn field possibly related to the Hiawatha Crater, with a participant providing a link to their co-authored paper on the subject.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the age and nature of the crater, with some supporting the Pleistocene impact theory while others suggest alternative explanations. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the implications of the crater on historical climate events and its classification.

Contextual Notes

There are unresolved questions about the dating of the impact event and the relationship between the crater and known tektite strewn fields. The discussion reflects a range of hypotheses and uncertainties regarding the geological history of the area.

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https://phys.org/news/2018-11-huge-crater-greenland-impact-northern.html
Paywall: advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/11/eaar8173

A 31 km wide crater in Northern Greenland has been hidden under a massive glacier, until now. Using new radar systems and older technologies, the authors document the existence of a newly found massive crater. Getting a date on the impact event is currently fuzzy. They estimate it occurred in the Pleistocene which is a lot of time. (circa 2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago, more than a 2 million year span) . They estimate the iron meteor was 1 km wide.

If you have an interest in punctual paleoclimate changes, then this research project - down the road - may be an interesting read as the subsequent planned research continues. There is a potential debris field, not proven yet, that is the next object of interest for the researchers.
 
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Genava said:
This review by Paul Voosen is better and is free:
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/201...ce-points-climate-altering-impact-time-humans

I was about to post on this.
The article explains much more about how the discovery came about as well as speculation about how the impact could have lead to the Younger Dryas period of cooling (fresh water from the impact melted ice disrupting the water flow in the N. Atlantic) which further speculation deals with how it might have affected North American mega fauna and the Clovis culture.
They did not want to put that in the original article because it was speculative and would raise lots of questions tangental to their crater discovery.
 
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Curious coincidence alert:
IIRC, if you look at the Iceland hot-spot back-track, it passes under that region at approx 80~100 MY.
Could this feature be much, much older than Pleistocene ??
I know there's a long and unfortunate history of impact craters being mistaken for odd volcanic features, could this be a rare example of the converse ?

FWIW, I'd be delighted if this feature is an impact crater of Pleistocene era, wholly or partly responsible for the very wide tektite 'strewn field'...
 
Nik_2213 said:
I know there's a long and unfortunate history of impact craters being mistaken for odd volcanic features, could this be a rare example of the converse ?

No, definitely not !
volcanic eruptions don't form shocked quartz
Nik_2213 said:
FWIW, I'd be delighted if this feature is an impact crater of Pleistocene era, wholly or partly responsible for the very wide tektite 'strewn field'...
which tektite strewn field are you referring to ?

I know of no known strewn field that isn't already related to a known impact

cheers
Dave
 
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Ah, the N. American tektites have been tied to the Chesapeake Bay feature ~34 MY.
My Bad.
 
Nik_2213 said:
Ah, the N. American tektites have been tied to the Chesapeake Bay feature ~34 MY.
yup
 
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There is a strewn field possibly related to the Hiawatha Crater Discovery. Its is the Younger Dryas . Boundary field and was documented in a paper I co-authored here, if you have any questions.: http://www.pnas.org/content/109/28/E1903
 
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