with Dallas Abbott
Originally presented 19 Nov 2011
Something BIG happened in around 536 which changed the course of history. The entire Earth was affected by massive atmospheric dust, leading to widespread starvation as crops failed. Was it a volcanic eruption? Debris from a collision with a body from space? Civilizations in Europe, Asia, and Mesoamerica collapsed. New cultures eventually emerged from the ruins. But the cause behind these events is unclear.
Dallas Abbott will discuss some of her recent investigations about these questions, particularly into the possibility that an impact in the ocean is the answer.
Dallas rafting at Iguassu Falls, Brazil (with MJP)
AGU Meeting of the Americas, Aug 2010
Introduction to this Workshop
View the introductory PowerPoint
View the pdf version
Cutting-Edge Research
NEWS STORIES: “AD 536: THE YEAR THAT WINTER NEVER ENDED“
“WHY HALLEY’S COMETS MAY BE LINKED TO A FAMINE 1,500 YEARS AGO“ (12/18/13)
“THE YEAR OF DARKNESS” by Colin Barras (New Scientist, 18 Jan 2014) ad536_pdf
The primary focus of Dallas Abbott’s present research is on submarine impact craters and their contribution to climate change and megatsunamis. This research grew out of work on the thermal history of the earth when Ann Isley and Dallas discovered that mantle plumes had the same periodicity as impact cratering events (Isley and Abbott, 2002, Journal of Geology, 110, 141-158). They did a compilation of impact cratering events and found that the record was woefully undersampled (Abbott and Isley, 2002. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 205, 53-62).
As a result, Dallas started to look for impact craters on the ocean floor. She found that Holocene age impact crater candidates could be located using a combination of bathymetry derived from satellite altimetry and the directions to the source of chevron dunes. Now, as part of the Holocene Impact Working Group, Dallas and colleagues focus on two goals: looking at the effect of submarine impacts on climate and determining if chevron dunes are megatsunami deposits.
Of special interest is a candidate crater in the Gulf of Carpentaria, northern Australia, with an inferred age of AD 572±86 (Abbott et al., 2007). The craters have produced impact spherules of magnetite, impact glass, and probable shocked quartz. The date of AD 572±86 is, within error, the same as the age of the climate downturn at AD 536. Ice core work is underway to see if the samples of the GISP2 ice core dating to 536 A.D. contain impact ejecta from the Carpentaria craters. They are also working on samples from chevron dunes in Madagascar to see if they contain impact ejecta.
Dallas has participated in Earth2Class workshops since 2002. E2C teachers especially enjoy her ability to share her discoveries and explain how one question can lead into others.
Links to previous E2C Workshops:
- “Impact Craters Under the Sea” (Dec 2002)
- “Historic Impact Craters” (Apr 2004)
- “New Revelations about Impact Craters” (May 2005)
- “Recent Impact Craters and Human History” (Apr 2006)
- “New News about Impact Craters” (Apr 2007)
- “Evidence for Multiple Impact Craters Near and Far” (Apr 2008)
- “What Really Happened? The Abiding Mystery of the Tunguska Impact 100 Years Later” (Nov 2008)
- “Tsunami in the Hudson: Evidence for a Large Event with a Source on the New Jersey Margin” (Mar 2010)
- “What Really Happened to the Sky and Ocean During the Dark Age Period of 534 to 544 A.D.?” (Nov 2010)
Links to selected Geological Society of America conference presentations :
- THE VARYING QUENCH TEXTURES OF IMPACT SPHERULES: A STRATIGRAPHIC TOOL?Paper No. 239-5 Presentation Time: 1:30 PM-5:30 PM THE VARYING QUENCH TEXTURES OF IMPACT SPHERULES: A STRATIGRAPHIC TOOL? ABBOTT, Dallas H., GLATZ, Christy A., and NUNES, Alice A., Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, PO Box 1000, Palisades, NY 10964-8000,dallas@ldeo.columbia.edu Impact spherules are …
- A POSSIBLE SOURCE CRATER FOR THE ELTANIN IMPACT LAYERPaper No. 178-7 Presentation Time: 3:15 PM-3:30 PM A POSSIBLE SOURCE CRATER FOR THE ELTANIN IMPACT LAYER GLATZ, Christy A. 1, ABBOTT, Dallas H. 2, and NUNES, Alice A. 2, (1) Department of Geological Sciences, Univ of Maine, 5790 Bryand Global Sciences Center, Orono, ME 04469, discodollydiva@collegeclub …
- MICROFOSSIL MELTING BY THE EWING IMPACTPaper No. 239-1 Presentation Time: 1:30 PM-5:30 PM MICROFOSSIL MELTING BY THE EWING IMPACT NUNES, Alice A. 1, ABBOTT, Dallas H. 2, and GLATZ, Christy A. 2, (1) Environmental Biology, Barnard College, 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027, an224@columbia.edu, (2) Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, PO Box …
- THE INTENSITY, OCCURRENCE, AND DURATION OF SUPERPLUME EVENTSPaper No. 165-0 THE INTENSITY, OCCURRENCE, AND DURATION OF SUPERPLUME EVENTSABBOTT, Dallas H., Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, PO Box 1000, Palisades, NY 10964-8000, dallas@ldeo.columbia.edu and ISLEY, Ann, Geology Department, State Univ of New York at Oswego, Oswego, NY 13126 We define the characteristics …
- EFFECTS AND IMPLICATIONS OF A PROPOSED GULF OF MAINE K/T IMPACTPaper No. 7-16 Presentation Time: 8:00 AM-6:00 PM EFFECTS AND IMPLICATIONS OF A PROPOSED GULF OF MAINE K/T IMPACT ABBOTT, Dallas H., Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, PO Box 1000, Palisades, NY 10964-8000, dallas@ldeo.columbia.edu and MANZER, Dominic, Systems Engineering, Code 533, Goddard Space Flight …
- DID A BOLIDE IMPACT CAUSE CATASTROPHIC TSUNAMIS IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND?… (November 2–5, 2003) Paper No. 60-7 Presentation Time: 9:30 AM-9:45 AM DID A BOLIDE IMPACT CAUSE CATASTROPHIC TSUNAMIS IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND? ABBOTT, DallasH. 1, MATZEN, Andrew 1, BRYANT, Edward A. 2, and PEKAR, Stephen F. 1, (1) Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, PO Box 1000, Palisades, NY 10964 …
- A LARGE K/T CRATER IN THE GULF OF MAINE?… IN THE GULF OF MAINE? MANZER, Dominic, Systems Engineering, Code 533, Goddard Space Flight Ctr, Greenbelt, MD 20771, Dominic.D.Manzer@nasa.gov and ABBOTT, Dallas H., Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, PO Box 1000, Palisades, NY 10964-8000 We have assembled a suite of evidence implying a large impact …
- THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION AND CHEMICAL DIFFERENCES OF TEKTITES FROM A CRATER IN THE TASMAN SEA… IN THE TASMAN SEA MATZEN, Andrew K., Department of Geosciences, The Univ of Tulsa, 600 S. College Ave, Tulsa, OK 74104, andrew-matzen@utulsa.edu, ABBOTT, Dallas H., Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, PO Box 1000, Palisades, NY 10964-8000, and PEKAR, Stephen, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia …
- COOL CRATONS AND THERMAL BLANKETS: HOW CONTINENTS AFFECT MANTLE CONVECTION… Time: 8:00 AM-12:00 PM COOL CRATONS AND THERMAL BLANKETS: HOW CONTINENTS AFFECT MANTLE CONVECTION TRUBITSYN, Valery 1, MOONEY, Walter D. 1, and ABBOTT,Dallas H. 2, (1) USGS, 345 Middlefield Rd, MS 977, Menlo Park, CA 94025, mooney@usgs.gov, (2) Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, PO Box 1000, Palisades …
- TSUNAMI LAYERS IN THE HUDSON RIVER, NY -HOW MANY SEPARATE EVENTS?… (31 October –3 November 2010) Paper No. 276-12 Presentation Time: 4:15 PM-4:30 PM TSUNAMI LAYERS IN THE HUDSON RIVER, NY -HOW MANY SEPARATE EVENTS? ABBOTT, DallasH., Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, NY 10964, dallas@ldeo.columbia.edu, CARBOTTE, Suzanne M., Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory …
Classroom Resources
“FINDING IMPACT CRATERS WITH LANDSAT” activity
“EXPLORE THE MOON: IMPACT CRATERS”
“IMPACT CRATERS AND THE K/T BOUNDARY”
In connection with the recent (November 2011) near-Earth orbital passage of Asteroid 2005 YU55, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center created these three “Space Math” activities (suggested by Ruben Worrell):
Activity 1–Determining UTC and distances
Activity 2–Determing the Moon’s Position
Activity 3–Determining Distance from Earth
LESSON PLAN: “BLAST FROM THE PAST – IMPACT CRATERS”
[An “Earth2Class Workshops for Teacher” Module]
Created by: Mirtha Landaira, Lawrence Leung, and Linda McCall
E2C Summer Curriculum Development Workshop, Summer 2004
Impact Simulation Model suggested by Dallas Abbott:
“Earth Impact Effects Program”: an easy-to-use, interactive web site for estimating the regional environmental consequences of an impact on Earth http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/impacteffects/
Hawai’i Space Grant College Teacher Page
http://www.spacegrant.hawaii.edu/class_acts/CratersTe.html
http://www.spacegrant.hawaii.edu/class_acts/CrateringDoc.html
Impact Cratering on a Rainy Day
http://www.teacherlink.usu.edu/tlnasa/units/PlanetaryGeology/9.pdf
Explore Craters
http://www.kidscosmos.org/kid-stuff/craters.html
“Crater Crazy” by Andrea Gianopoulos
http://www.astronomy.com/content/static/parentsteachers/activities/cratercrazy.asp
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Of course, the best way to find useful materials for your students is through a DLESE search:
www.dlese.org
Other Resources
SELECTED WEB SITES ABOUT IMPACT CRATERS
Terrestrial Impact Craters site—Calvin J. Hamilton
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/tercrate.htm
Educator’s Guide to Impact Craters
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/edu/craters.htm
Asteroid and Comet Impact Hazards
http://impact.arc.nasa.gov/index.html
Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona
http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/SIC/impact_cratering/intro/
Terrestrial Impact Craters, 2nd ed. by Christian Koeberl and Virgil L. Sharpton
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/slidesets/craters/
Hawai´i Space Grant College Teacher Page
http://www.spacegrant.hawaii.edu/class_acts/CratersTe.html
http://www.spacegrant.hawaii.edu/class_acts/CrateringDoc.html
Impact Cratering on a Rainy Day
http://www.teacherlink.usu.edu/tlnasa/units/PlanetaryGeology/9.pdf
Explore Craters
http://www.kidscosmos.org/kid-stuff/craters.html
“Crater Crazy” by Andrea Gianopoulos
http://www.astronomy.com/content/static/parentsteachers/activities/cratercrazy.asp
Asteroid impact craters could cradle life (NewScientist.com, 10 Sep 2004)
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6383
SELECTED WEB SITES ABOUT TSUNAMIS
US Geological Survey Southeast Asia FAQ
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqinthenews/2004/usslav/neic_slav_faq.html
USGS Tsunami Information Links
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/bytopic/tsunami.html
Unearthing Proof of a Tsunami in the Northwest
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4629401
University of Washington “Tsunami!”
http://www.geophys.washington.edu/tsunami/intro.html
USGS Coastal & Marine Geology Program
http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/tsunami/
FEMA Hazards—Tsunamis
http://www.fema.gov/hazards/tsunamis/
NWS Tsunami Awareness Page
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/okx/tsunami.html
SELECTED WEB SITES ABOUT NEW ZEALAND AND PACIFIC TSUNAMIS
DID A BOLIDE IMPACT CAUSE CATASTROPHIC TSUNAMIS IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND?
ABBOTT, Dallas H.1, MATZEN, Andrew1, BRYANT, Edward A.2, and PEKAR, Stephen F.1
(1) Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, PO Box 1000, Palisades, NY 10964-8000, dallas@ldeo.columbia.edu, (2) Faculty of Science, Univ of Wollongong, Wollongong, 2522, Australia
http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2003AM/finalprogram/abstract_65239.htm
New Zealand Hazard Watch
http://www.gns.cri.nz/hazardwatch/latest/index.html
Tsunami Sites in New Zealand
http://www.usc.edu/dept/tsunamis/newzealand/
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center
http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/abouttsunamis.htm
Integrating Educational Technologies
General suggestions: Integrating Educational Technologies into Your Classrooms
This month: Apps
Your assignment:
1) What characteristics make apps effective as a classroom teaching tool?
2) When should apps be used for full-class instruction, and when should they be used for small groups or individual projects?
3) Describe strategies to locate suitable apps for your classes.
and
4) Design a lesson plan that incorporates at least one app.
E2C Follow-up:
You may send your model lesson and other responses to this “assignment” to michael@earth2class.org. If suitable, we will post your work in the E2C lesson plans and/or add them to this section of the Workshop website.