Replies

There was one who held that the Carolina Bays (which are generally held to be the result of the impact of a large number of broken pieces of a comet) were formed with the help of an incoming bolide of some sort, but not by impact, and no, I'm not makin' it up. :')

Simply put, I believe that these near flat, shallow, structures were formed by terminal flare induced steam explosions of wet exposed ground. The wet spots could have been beaver ponds, springs, marshes, wet weather ponds, slow flowing creeks, and so on. The principal requirement here is that the water on the ground be exposed sufficiently to the sky so as to receive enough radiant energy from the incoming bolide to produce a violent phase change or steam explosion. A geologist might think of these features as "top induced maars" as the structures of Carolina Bays have similarities to conventional maars, which are produced by Earth mantle heat induced steam explosions. *

I don't regard this as plausible. It's somewhat analogous to, "oh, the Chicxulub impact didn't kill off the dinosaurs, it's just a huge coincidence."

A Re-evaluation Of The Extraterrestrial Origin Of The Carolina Bays
by J. Ronald Eyton & Judith I. Parkhurst (April 1975)
Luis E. Ortiz & Susan Gross, editors
Abstract: 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 really long but interesting read. Only to arrive at: Only a comet appears to satisfy the constraints imposed both by extraterrestrial requirements and observed terrestrial characteristics. Which coincidentally appears (more or less)obvious to the "untrained" observer. Where's my grant money?!?!

I also went back and, ahem, took a look at the original posted item. Very cool! Water balloons in space? Next thing you know the planet will get "wrapped"! Anyway, the notion of megatons of water coming to earth from space really gave the pseudo-scientists a case of the vapors. Who then circled their wagons and fought off the heresy til they could no longer resist..........the obvious. At least when the evidence was originally presented('86?), it would seem to be self evident......again to the untrained observer.

The more of these "scientific" links I follow, the stronger my feeling that many/most(?) scientists are pretty much like yellow dog Dimocrats; Don't approach me with facts, my mind's made up! Something seems to have gone awry in the scientific community. But that's not really news since things seem to have gone awry most everywhere.

FGS