Massive asteroid impact crater in Falklands linked with Great Dying mass extinction

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Credit: worldatlas.com

Something new for geologists to get their teeth into.

The Falkland Islands may be home to one of the world’s largest craters, reports the IB Times. A new analysis has revealed it has many characteristics of an asteroid impact and may date back to the ‘Great Dying’ extinction event.

About 200 similar large craters have been discovered so far on Earth but there are many other examples of them on other planets including on Venus, Mercury and Mars.

The Falkland Islands structure, which is described in detail in the journal Terra Nova, has a diameter measuring approximately 250 kilometres (150 miles). If it turns out to be an impact crater, this size would make it one of Earth’s largest – comparable to the famous Chicxulub crater discovered in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico nearly four decades ago.

Gravity and magnetism

In this research, the scientists have documented the geophysical features of a large basin situated on the Falkland (Malvinas) Plateau, to the northwest of West Falkland Island.

They have analysed marine seismic-reflection profiles of the area, and conducted gravity and magnetic surveys. Their investigations suggest that they are confronted with a large basin with traits consistent with those of impact craters caused by collisions with asteroids.

In particular, the researchers note a gravity anomaly, characterised by a decrease in the strength of Earth’s gravity over the site. This negative anomaly is surrounded by a ring-shaped positive gravity anomaly. These features are very similar to the one seen at the Chicxulub impact structure.

In contrast, there is an important increase in the strength of Earth’s magnetism in the basin’s vicinity – another characteristic of other large impact craters.

Continued here.

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May 6, 2017 at 09:39PM

Booker & The Arctic Ice Panic

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By Paul Homewood

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Booker on the latest Arctic scare:

Inevitably, when even satellite temperatures were showing 2016 as “the hottest year on record”, we were going to be told last winter that the Arctic ice was at its lowest extent ever. Sure enough, before Christmas, a report from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was greeted with such headlines as “Hottest Arctic on record triggers massive ice melt”. In March we had the BBC trumpeting another study that blamed vanishing Arctic ice as the cause of weather which led to the worst-ever smog in Beijing, warning that it “could even threaten the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022”.

But last week we were brought back to earth by the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI), as charted by our friend Paul Homewood on his blog Notalotofpeopleknowthat, with the news that ever since December temperatures in the Arctic have consistently been lower than minus 20 C. In April the extent of Arctic sea ice was back to where it was in April 13 years ago. Furthermore, whereas in 2008 most of the ice was extremely thin, this year most has been at least two metres thick. The Greenland ice cap last winter increased in volume faster than at any time for years.

As for those record temperatures brought in 2016 by an exceptionally strong El Niño, the satellites now show that in recent months global temperatures have plummeted by more that 0.6 degrees: just as happened 17 years ago after a similarly strong El Niño had also made 1998 the “hottest year on record”.

This means the global temperature trend has now shown no further warming for 19 years. But the BBC won’t be telling us any of this. And we are still stuck with that insanely damaging Climate Change Act, which in this election will scarcely get a mention.

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This all follows on from my report, Arctic Defies Fake News Stories, which can be seen here.

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May 6, 2017 at 08:09PM

Michigan Mauling: Desperate Developers Throw $Millions at Pro-Wind Propaganda But Huron County Votes 2:1 Against Wind Power Plans

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*** The wind industry is being belted on all fronts, the world over; whether it’s governments slashing subsidies or communities lashing back, wind power outfits are under siege, and the threat is mortal. In the United States, the rolling fury in communities threatened by the rollout of giant industrial wind turbines is palpable and spreading. … Continue reading Michigan Mauling: Desperate Developers Throw $Millions at Pro-Wind Propaganda But Huron County Votes 2:1 Against Wind Power Plans

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May 6, 2017 at 07:30PM

TAKING A BALANCED VIEW OF POLLUTION

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May 6, 2017 at 06:30PM