[meteorite-list] Hypervelocity impacts and neutron spallation

[E.P. Grondine]

Hi Sterling, Rob, Chris, all - 

Even Tunguska (now estimated at somewhere between 5 to 15 megatons) threw off enough high energy (infra-red) photons to set the trees on fire for miles around. Now some of those photons would not have been directed outward, but instead have hit other nearby atoms already at high energy states from being hit previously with other high energy photons. 

If enough energy accumulated, then perhaps when some of the photons were finally thrown off, they were at a high enough energy level that neutron spallation occurred. 

This would all be blue sky, but for those 14C spikes... Chris, I think I got the copy of the INTCAL98 chart from one of Firestone's papers. Stuiver and Volcker (working with Iceland marine data) were cited as the data sources. Firestone did not create the INTCAL98 chart. The bumps around 10,900 BCE were what set Firestone off on his search to find their source, which led him at first to a nearby supernova and finally to impact.

E.P. Grondine
Man and Impact in the Americas