The Goldsboro ridge is a sand body 25 feet high that rises above the Sunderland surface near Goldsboro, North Carolina. It consists of unfossiliferous sands with a few intercalated clay beds. The ridge is neither an erosional outlier nor an eolian feature. It is a depositional ridge, probably of marine origin. The geography of the relationships among the height and orientation of the ridge, the elevation of the toe of the nearby Kenly scarp, the placement of a distinctive slate knoll immediately northwest of the ridge, and the position and orientation of the Neuse and little Rivers are all compatible with a marine origin. The Goldsboro ridge and the Kenly scarp are the major evidences of a former post-Miocene sea stand above 95 feet (Surry scarp).

Johnson, D. W., 1942, The Origin of the Carolina Bays, Columba Geomorphic Studies Volume IV, New York: Columbia University Press.

More than 350 bibliographic entries have been identified here, most of which pertain directly to Carolina Bays.

Clube and Napier suggested that the outer planets occasionally divert giant comets (more than 50 kilometers in diameter) into the inner solar system into short-period orbits.

There is now compelling evidence that an exceptionally large (50-100 km) comet entered a short-period, Earth-crossing orbit some time in the Upper Palaeolithic, and underwent a series of fragmentations. During this disintegration the Earth was probably subjected to occasional episodes of intense bombardment. Such an episode might constitute a sensible astronomical framework for understanding the postulated catastrophe at 12,900 BP.

References complied by Bob Kobres

The cometary theory of the origin of the Bays, on the other hand, popular among earth scientists of the 1930s and 40's, is that the Bays are the result of an encounter between North America and a low density comet exploding above or impacting with the Laurentide Ice Sheet ~12,900 years ago [4]. Supporting evidence includes the failure of "wind and wave" theories to satisfactorily account for a number of the peculiar features of Carolina Bays, including the recent identification of markers suggestive of an extraterrestrial connection, the alignment of bays with points over the Great Lakes, and their tendency to overlap one another from east to west. Extraterrestrial markers include microspherules, magnetic grains with extraterrestrial chemistry, carbon spherules suffused with nanodiamonds, and levels of iridium sixty times background levels.

3-Part Article By Diane Tennant in The Virginian-Pilot, September 7, 2008

Discusses downed forest of cypress trees under 10 meters of pure silicate sand

1953 paper by B.W. Wells discussing his view of bay geomorphology. Published in the Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society, Vol. 69, pt. 2, pp 119-141

Controversy as to the origin of the Carolina Bays has centered on terrestrial versus extraterrestrial theories. Meteoritic impact has been considered the primary causal mechanism in extraterrestrial models, but alternatives such as comets and asteroids have not been adequately considered. Comets may explode during fall and produce depressions which would conform to the morphology of the Bays. Only a comet appears to satisfy the constraints imposed both by extraterrestrial requirements and observed terrestrial characteristics.

A carbon-rich black layer, dating to
12.9 ka, has been previously identified at
50 Clovis-age sites across North America and appears contemporaneous with the abrupt onset of Younger Dryas (YD) cooling. The in situ bones of extinct Pleistocene megafauna, along with Clovis tool assemblages, occur below this black layer but not within or above it. Causes for the extinctions, YD cooling, and termination of Clovis culture have long been controversial. In this paper, we provide evidence for an extraterrestrial (ET) impact event at
12.9 ka, which we hypothesize caused abrupt environmental changes that contributed to YD cooling, major ecological reorganization, broad-scale extinctions, and rapid human behavioral shifts at the end of the Clovis Period

While most of us know about rings around Saturn and Jupiter, some scientists believe there once were rings of rock debris around our own planet. Two scientists — Peter J. Fawcett, of the University of New Mexico, and Mark B.E. Boslough, of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories — have suggested that a geologically “recent” collision (about 35 million years ago) may have caused such a temporary debris ring.

Description of Landforms, Drainage Patterns, and Geologic Processes

Our hypothesis is that the Basins on the current land surface originally formed as blowouts or low spots in abandoned Platte River fluvial sands and gravels. The ~27000 radiocarbon years and later loess actually draped a pre-existing topography formed in these sands. We also offer that these features would be recognized as an analog of the Carolina Bays if not for their loess cover.

The morphologies of the two basins investigated in this study were inherited from an ancient landscape. The modern landscape has evolved from the loessial burial of paleobasins formed prior to the Early Wiscon- sinan deposition of the Gilman Canyon Formation. The present landscape is slightly smoother than the paleolandscape. The paleobasins probably formed as a result of erosion and the subsequent deflation of the eroded materials. The results ofthis study, coupled with those of Krueger (1986) indicate that it is likely that other large modern basins within the eastern Rainbasin are also underlain by paleobasins and are the result of similar basin-forming processes.

doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2007.01.011

In these videos, scientists answer questions and discuss their analysis of a buried layer at sites from California to Belgium which reveals materials including metallic microspherules, carbon spherules, nanodiamonds, fullerenes, charcoal, and soot. The layer's composition may indicate that a massive body, possibly a comet, exploded in the atmosphere over the Laurentide Ice Sheet 12,900 years ago.

Metro Magazine interview with George Howard, by Liza Roberts, January 2009

These scientists have been researching on-shore geological structures which may have been created by large cometary impact-driven tsunamis. The interesting article linked here describes their work is available at the New York Times.

paper at Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVII (2006)

At present scientists have identified nearly two hundred terrestrial impact craters. Three to four more craters are located each year. Most of these have only been discovered since 1950. Fewer visible craters appears on the Earth's surface as compared with most other solar system bodies because the Earth is so active geologically.

Oblique impact resolves the mystery of one of the most bizarre crater pairs on the Moon. South of Mare Crisium in Mare Fecunditatis are two small craters with unique parallel rays streaming from one of them.

During the recent years great progress has been made in the study of the processes of energy accumulation and transformation in the minerals used as palaeodosimeters, in clarification of the characteristics of especially deep “dosimetric” traps and in deciphering the mechanism of their photoionization, as well as in measuring techniques and development of new apparatus used for dating. In spite of that further basic studies, justification and specification of concrete dating protocols are needed. New measuring methods (including new dose-sensitive characteristics) are to be searched for. Sensitive methods for dating very “young” samples, but also extending the time range of datings to the region of great ages (t > 105 years) are especially necessary.

Recent findings about interactions of the Earth with extraterrestrial bodies, particularly comets and Apollo-like objects, are reviewed, with special attention to climatological effects. We discuss the hypothesis that the last glaciation was started by a collision over a continent and was terminated by a collision over an ocean. Posted on 04/19/2002 by vannrox

Kehew, A. E. & Kozlowski, A. L. 2007. USA. Applied Quaternary research in the central part of glaciated terrain. Geological Survey of Fin- land, Special Paper 46, 69–78, 10 figures.

Besides the most evident cosmic catastrophes ca. 2200 BC and 2345 BC there are other events during the Holocene that are so widely global and difficult to explain by only the Earth's own mechanisms that a cosmic explanation must evidently be taken into account. Posted on 01/03/2003 by ckilmer

Underlying memories of an event that may have occurred many years ago

In the most wide-ranging scenarios, the year 536 is seen as a watershed moment between the ancient and modern worlds, bringing about economic decline, population movements, political unrest, and ultimately the collapse of civilizations.

Compendium of correspondence, CCNet Editor: Benny Peiser

Discussion of balds in West Virginia by B.W. Wells

Discussion of balds in the Appalachian Mountains by B.W. Wells

Backyard Nature article on the subject: The short answer is that you can take your pick between pronouncing it like "LERSS," or "LUSS," or like "LOW-ess." However, there's more to it than that, so here's the longer answer:

is a paper by Victor Clube on the role played by disintegrating giant comets on Earth history