A potential 370-mile-wide crater in Australia, known as MAPCIS, may reshape our understanding of Earth’s geological history. Researchers found geological evidence, including shocked minerals and melt rock, suggesting a massive impact at the end of the Ediacaran period. (Artist’s concept.)
Credit: SciTechDaily.com
It's a sign of their parochial ignorance that creationists believe their magic designer created Earth to be a perfect planet for them to live on. This notion fails to take into account the fact that, for many people, especially in the technologically under-developed parts of the world, life can be a struggle against disease, natural disasters, a lack of water and famine.
It also fails to take into account the record of natural disasters of a cosmological origin such as meteor strikes that have caused sudden mass extinctions in the vast length of time before creationists believe Earth was 'perfectly' created as a small flat planet with a dome over it in the Middle East.
Geologists from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), have identified the remnants of one such massive impact crater in the heart of Australia, measuring some 370 miles across. This impact is believed to have occurred toward the end of the Ediacaran period of Earth’s history, some 540 million years ago.
A massive impact crater, 370 miles across, has been found in Australia* It was produced by a meteor strike about 540 million years ago* What would be the likely consequences of such a strike today? A meteor strike, large enough to produce a 370-mile-wide (600 km) impact crater, would have catastrophic global consequences if it occurred today. Here's what the likely effects would be:Evidence for this discovery was presented to the 37th International Geological Congress 2024 in Busan, South Korea in August 2024.
- Global Climate Disruption
- Dust and Debris in the Atmosphere: The impact would launch enormous amounts of dust, ash, and particles into the atmosphere, blocking sunlight for months or even years. This could lead to a dramatic drop in temperatures, known as an "impact winter," causing widespread cooling and disruptions to the climate.
- Acid Rain: Vaporized minerals from the impact site, particularly sulfur compounds, could react with water vapor, resulting in acid rain that would damage ecosystems and contaminate water sources.
- Global Darkness: Similar to the effect of volcanic eruptions, the blocking of sunlight would disrupt photosynthesis, leading to plant die-offs, food shortages, and the collapse of ecosystems.
- Mass Extinction
- Loss of Biodiversity: The strike could trigger a mass extinction event, wiping out a significant portion of Earth's species, especially those dependent on sunlight and stable ecosystems. Such an event might affect plants, animals, and ocean life, reminiscent of the impact that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.
- Ocean Acidification: The release of carbon dioxide and other gases from vaporized rocks could increase the acidity of oceans, further harming marine life, including coral reefs and plankton, which form the base of the food chain.
- Tsunamis and Shockwaves
- Megatsunamis: If the impact occurred near or in an ocean, it would generate massive tsunamis, potentially devastating coastal regions around the world.
- Seismic Shockwaves: The energy from the strike would create shockwaves similar to extremely powerful earthquakes, destroying infrastructure, triggering landslides, and affecting regions far from the impact zone.
- Wildfires
- Global Firestorms: The heat from the impact would ignite fires worldwide. Wildfires could sweep through forests and grasslands, adding to the environmental devastation and contributing more soot and particles to the atmosphere, further blocking sunlight.
- Ozone Layer Depletion
- Increased UV Radiation: Chemicals released from the impact, including nitrogen oxides, could damage the ozone layer. This would lead to an increase in harmful ultraviolet radiation reaching Earth's surface, damaging ecosystems and human health.
- Human and Societal Collapse
- Famine and Resource Scarcity: The destruction of agriculture and ecosystems, combined with the disruption of global trade and infrastructure, could lead to widespread famine. Human civilization could face collapse due to the lack of resources, food, and essential supplies.
- Widespread Death Toll: The direct impact would kill millions instantly, and the indirect effects—such as famine, disease, and societal breakdown—would result in additional casualties.
- Long-Term Climate Change
- Greenhouse Warming: After the initial cooling phase, the dust and greenhouse gases released by the impact could lead to a long-term warming effect as the climate recovers, with altered weather patterns and more extreme climate events.
In summary, a meteor strike of this magnitude would lead to severe environmental, ecological, and societal consequences, potentially wiping out millions of species and bringing human civilization to the brink of collapse. It would be comparable to past extinction events but likely even more devastating given today’s interconnected global civilization.
It is also explained in a VCU news release:
Australian crater could offer fresh insight into Earth’s geological historyIronically, incidents such as this, earthquakes, volcanoes and pandemics such as the Black Death have been regarded in the past, not as evidence that Earth is far from perfectly designed for life by a creator god, but as evidence that in some way, humans have made the creator god angry and so deserve the 'punishment' it is meeting out to the innocent and the guilty in equal measure.
VCU’s Arif Sikder of the Center for Environmental Studies is part of the research team that is going back in time – by hundreds of millions of years.
A probable crater stretching more than 370 miles, or 600 kilometers, across the heart of Australia could reshape our understanding of Earth’s geological history.
Researcher Daniel Connelly and Virginia Commonwealth University’s Arif Sikder, Ph.D., believe they have found evidence to support the existence of MAPCIS – the Massive Australian Precambrian-Cambrian Impact Structure -– which is a nonconcentric complex crater that could provide new insights into the geological and biological evolution of our planet.
Working on the MAPCIS project has been an incredible journey. The data we’ve gathered offers a unique glimpse into the forces that have shaped our planet, and I’m excited about the future research this discovery will inspire.
Associate Professor Dr. Arif Sikder
Center for Environmental Studies
Life Science Dept. Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, VA, USA.
This month, Connelly will make a presentation in Anaheim, California, at Connects 2024, the Geological Society of America’s annual meeting. In August, he presented at the 37th International Geological Congress 2024 in Busan, South Korea.
According to researchers, the impact occurred at the end of the Ediacaran period, within the Neoproterozoic Era, which spans from 1 billion to 538.8 million years ago.
Among the geological evidence they have uncovered to support the age, size and location of the impact are massive deposits of s breccia, or melt rock, near the crater center. The researchers found shocked minerals, including lonsdaleite, or shocked diamond, in the deposits, along with impact level amounts of iridium.
The discovery of MAPCIS is a testament to the power of collaborative research. Our findings not only highlight the significance of this impact structure but also open new avenues for understanding Earth’s geological past.
Daniel Connelly
Only since the Renaissance and the dawn of scientific enlightenment have most humans realised that, far from being a perfect planet to live on, Earth frequently has random natural disasters and sometime major catastrophes that cause mass extinctions that give the lie to claims of a designed perfection. All the magic spells in the world and all the attempts to mollify an irascible magic sky thug, have no effect on these events that make it a very imperfect place, and destroy any childish notions of a protective magic sky daddy.
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