Asteroid Impact

I found this rather interesting and it could possibly tie in with the loss of a Chinese fleet mentioned in the Gavin Menzies website.


Mahuika crater is a proposed submarine [url=/wiki/Bolide]bolide[/url] [url=/wiki/Impact_crater]impact crater[/url], 20 ± 2 km wide and over 153 m deep, on the [url=/wiki/New_Zealand]New Zealand[/url] continental shelf named after the [url=/wiki/Mahuika]Māori god of fire[/url]. It was discovered by [url=/wiki/Dallas_Abbott]Dallas Abbott[/url] and her colleagues from the [url=/wiki/Lamont-Doherty_Earth_Observatory]Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory[/url] of the [url=/wiki/Columbia_University]Columbia University[/url].

Around the year 1400, the natives of New Zealand abandoned their southern coastal settlements. New Zealand tsunami expert Professor James Goff attributes coastal abandonment in New Zealand at 1500 AD to an earthquake-induced tsunami event. However, the largest historical earthquakes produced maximum tsunami runups of 40 to 60 metres. On [url=/wiki/Stewart_Island]Stewart Island[/url], New Zealand, beach sand is present ~220 metres above sea level at Hellfire Hut and ~150 metres above sea level at Mason Bay. In eastern Australia, there are [url=/wiki/Megatsunami]megatsunami[/url] deposits with maximum run-ups of over 130 metres and a C-14 age of ~1500 AD[2]. Megatsunami deposits occur on the eastern side of [url=/wiki/Lord_Howe_Island]Lord Howe Island[/url] in the middle of the [url=/wiki/Tasman_Sea]Tasman Sea[/url], implying a source crater for the tsunami further east. Abbott et al. (2003) suggests that a bolide impact would explain both the geological and anthropological evidence better than an earthquake.

Based on elemental anomalies, fossils, and minerals, which are interpreted to be derived from the impact, found in an [url=/wiki/Ice_core]ice core[/url] from the Siple Dome in [url=/wiki/Antarctica]Antarctica[/url], Abbott et al. (2005) argues that the impact, which created the Mahuika crater occurred around 1443 AD.

didn't quite get that can you summarize it?

A big meteor hit about AD 1431, Made a hole in the ocean floor about 20km wide. Wiped out a Chinese fleet and put beach sand 200 metres up on Stewart Island. I'd love to have seen that!

could you have picked a safe place to view from?

The Moon!  :-)

davo wrote:

could you have picked a safe place to view from?

He would have been OK in a helicopter.

andsome wrote:

Quote :

He would have been OK in a helicopter.

No chance - a meteorite coming in at that speed would cause violent local winds that would bring a helicopter down close enough to see the strike

A strike that big would be seen from a great height, SO THERE SMARTY PANTS.

Helicopters can't fly all that high - they are rotarians

there weren't no helicopters in 1431?

Didn't Leonardo da Vinci invent one
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davo wrote:

there weren't no helicopters in 1431?

Eric Biggs invented one before D Vinci, but only one was made specially because a large asteroid was expected and he wanted to see the impact.

And I'm gullible - not