Kord Ernstson

University of Wuerzburg | JMU · Faculty of Philosophy I

We report an unusual polymict melt rock megabreccia in the form of an allochthonous non-volcanic megablock within the Tertiary volcanic province of the Bohemian Massif. It is considered a relict of a suspected low-altitude airburst impact.

We report on the mid-Tertiary multiple Azuara impact event (Spain) with the Azuara impact structure and the Rubielos de la Cérida impact basin and the chequered history of their discovery and their place in impact dominated by an extremely anti-science suppression of a small group of impact researchers.

We report an unusual polymict melt rock megabreccia in the form of an allochthonous non-volcanic megablock within the Tertiary volcanic province of the Bohemian Massif. It is considered to be a relict of a suspected low-altitude airburst impact.

We report on the mid-Tertiary multiple Azuara impact event (Spain) with the Azuara impact structure and the Rubielos de la Cérida impact basin and the chequered history of their discovery and their place in impact research with a focus on the Canadian Impact Database and Wikpedia.

The claim that the vineyard crater is the fourth proven impact crater in Western and Central Europe after Rochechouart, Ries, and Steinheim is a fundamental scientific misstatement because the impacts and impact crater strewn fields (Chiemgau, Saarland, Czech Republic) that have been researched and published for 15 years with all proven and scienti...

Archaeological sites undoubtedly destroyed by a meteorite impact had not been identified so far. For such a proof, both a meteorite impact and its definite effects on an archaeological site would have to be evidenced. This review article reports on geoarchaeological investigations, involving mineralogy, petrography, and geophysics, which establishe...

With the meanwhile widely available data of Digital Terrain Models (DTM) with extremely high resolution of the bare terrain surface, vertically and horizontally, down to the decimeter and centimeter range and freed from buildings and any vegetation, completely new possibilities have opened up in the geosciences, which entail paradigm shifts in esta...

Discovery and description of a 100 km-diameter probable peak ring impact structure in Northern Germany, which would be the second largest terrestrial peak ring structure.

About 20 years ago, amateur archeologists and local history researchers discovered the iron silicide (FESI) strewn field measuring about 60 km x 30 km in the districts of the Chiemgau and the Inn-Salzach region in southeast Germany. They evidenced the connection between the FESi distribution and the pervasive rim wall craters and suggested a meteor...

In an abstract paper presented at the EPSC 2022 Granada (Europlanet Sociey) the authors above from Spain, Sweden and Denmark report about research on what they called the first impact structure in Spain. Numerous media reports about this “first impact structure in Spain” immediately after the meeting suggest that this formulation was directly put i...

The poster is a critical discussion of an article by Kenkmann et al. (GSA Bulletin, 2022). In the article, the Wyoming crater strewn field is declared to be a field of impact secondary craters from an unidentified primary crater. Our poster rejects this interpretation as consistently methodologically problematic to absolutely untenable. Many of the...

Introduction: ln 2022, an article was published in the GSA Bulletin [1] claiming that a secondary crater field of a major impact structure has been detected for the first time in the state of Wyoming in the United States, as has long been known from the Moon, other planets, and their moons. 31 craters are confirmed by shock effects, and more than 6...

Secondary craters in impacts on moon, planets and their moons are a well known phenomenon, which has been investigated many times. In the article commented by us here, the authors report on a crater strewn field in the American state of Wyoming, which is interpreted as a field of secondary craters of a so far unknown larger primary impact structure...

The Saarland impact (Fig. 1) [1-6) has been an established event for 1 several years with the existence of two craters with diameters of about 200 m (Nalbach) and Saarlouis (2.3 km) (Fig. 2). Finds of rocks and glasses in a strewn field (Fig. 1) with typical impact features (e.g. suevites) strengthened the impact hypothesis and initiated comprehens...

The Pleistocene/Holocene Saarland impact in Germany near the French border has been an established event for several years with the existence of two craters with diameters of about 200 m (Nalbach) and Saarlouis (2.3 km). Finds of abundant melt rocks and glasses in an extensive strewn field with typical impact features (e.g. suevites) strengthened t...

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) Measurements - Rim Wall and Ejecta Blanket - Saarlouis (Saarland, Germany) Impact Crater

The claim that meteorite impacts shaped human history is a well-known element of (neo-)catastrophism. But many methodological caveats, shortly summarised in the first part of this article, should be considered before drawing such far-reaching conclusions. So far no evidence existed of any archaeological site directly being involved in an impact pro...

Introduction: A situation that has been controversial and problematic for geologists as an alien element for a very long time exists in northern Germany on the border with Poland (Fig. 1) with an extremely unusual geomorphological feature that is linked to the very conflicting explanatory models of tectonic origin or glacial formation. These basica...

To the best of our knowledge, the first examples worldwide of artificial remnants, which directly co-exist with meteorite impact-diagnostic shock metamorphism, come from an excavation site in Stöttham (Chiemgau, SE-Germany). Archaeological finds (‘slags’), analysed by polarising microscope and SEM-EDS, exhibit complex structures of rocky partitions...

Abstract. - We present a new compilation of previously abundantly studied and published shock effects in minerals and rocks of the Middle Tertiary Rubielos de la Cérida Impact Basin in northeastern Spain. Typologically, we organize by: shock melt - accretionary lapilli - diaplectic glass - planar deformation features (PDF) - deformation lamellae in...

The largest meteorite impact of the Holocene known to date occurred during the Bronze/Iron Age in southeastern Bavaria, between Altötting and the edge of the Alps. The event is known as the "Chiemgau Impact". More than 100 craters with diameters from 5 m up to several hundred meters are distributed over an area of about 60 km length and 30 km width...

Introduction: In the early seventies the reputable Bavarian geologist Erwin Rutte published a new hypothesis on a much more far-reaching Ries crater impact event (Fig. 1) causing quite a strong recognition in the geologic community [1, 2]. However, a vehement rejection by the traditional German impact researchers and the Bavarian Official Geologic...

Introduction: Moldavites are tektites with a beautiful, mostly green discoloration and a very pronounced sculpture (Fig.1), which have been studied many times e.g. [1-3]).According to the most probable theory, they were formed 14.5 million years ago together with the Ries crater meteorite impact in Germany. They belong to the mid-European tektite s...

Introduction: The Saarland impact (Fig. 1) has been an established event for several years with the existence of two craters with diameters of about 200 m (Nalbach) and Saarlouis (2.3 km) [1-4]. Finds of rocks and glasses in a strewn field (Fig. 1) with typical impact features (e.g. suevites) strengthened the impact hypothesis and initiated compreh...

Introduction: The Ries crater impact structure in Germany measuring about 25 km in diameter, formed almost 15 million years ago in the Upper Miocene. In the early seventies, when the Ries impact origin began to replace the earlier volcanic explosion theory among most geologists, research results of the reputable Ba- varian geologist Erwin Rutte cau...

Introduction.- In northern Sweden, about 0.5 km east of the village Holmajärvi, a long road runs from the town Kiruna to village Nikkaluokta (Fig.1).North of the road an isolated outcrop in the otherwise badly exposed bedrock has attracted some attention in the past with possible interpretations of deposition. Here we report on a new investigation...

Abstract. – The article, which we comment here, interprets sedimentological findings (seismite horizons) at a distance of 80 – 180 km from the two impact structures, the Ries crater and the Steinheim basin, to the effect that, contrary to the impacts at a distance of only 40 km from each other, which have always been assumed to be synchronous, the...

We use Schmieder and Kring's article to show how science still works within the so-called "impact community" and how scienti c data are manipulated and "rubber-stamped" by reviewers (here, e.g., C. Koeberl and G. Osinski). We accuse the authors of continuing to list the Azuara and Rubielos de la Cérida impact structures and one of the world's most...

Impact cratering generally distinguishes between simple, bowl-shaped small craters and larger complex structures with a central peak and/or inner rings. In the modification stage of the latter, the transient crater is largely re-filled by centripetal movements particularly due to gravitational collapse of the crater rim. The transition from simple...

A Google Earth-based morphological analysis of the Taklamakan Desert in the north of the Himalayas shows characteristics of a 1000 km mega-sized impact structure with an elliptical basin and a pronounced elliptical morphological rim. The elliptical structure may possibly have originated from the thrust of the Indian plate and the Himalayas. A gravi...

High resolution ground penetrating radar (GPR) measurements over craters of the Holocene Chiemgau impact meteorite crater strewn field reveal instructive images of complex structures and chronological sequences during excavation.

The Digital Terrain Model (DTM) of craters in the Chiemgau meteorite impact strewn field with extreme topographic resolution excludes anthropogenic and glacial origin in principle and provides insight into unusual formation processes.

Unknown spectacular microfracturing of quartz grains in a polymictic impact breccia from the recently established impact strewn field in the Czech Republic is interpreted as caused by thermal shock during impact and is seen in connection with recently postulated thermal shock during the formation of silica ballen structures.

A hitherto worldwide unique evidence of a new type of impactite contains particles of metallic bronze and iron artefacts in a strongly shocked polymictic impact breccia from an archaeological excavation in the crater strewn field of the Chiemgau impact, dating the impact to relatively precise 900-600 BC.

The finds of iron silicides composed, among others, of xifengite, gupeiite, hapkeite with inclusions of titanium carbide, khamrabaevite and moissanite, and CAIs, together with about 30 elements including uranium and REE, which have been regarded as extraterrestrial for about 15 years in the crater strewn field of the Chiemgau impact, have been enri...

The high-pressure, high-temperature carbon impactite of more than 90% carbon with inclusions of diamond and carbines, named after the Chiemgau impact crater strewn field, which must have been formed by direct shock carbonization of the target vegetation, has now been evidenced in the same formation in the impact areas of the Saarland and the Czech...

The Iberian System in NE Spain is characterized by a distinctive graben/basin system (Calatayud, Jiloca, Alfambra/Teruel), among others, which has received much attention and discussion in earlier and very recent geological literature. A completely different approach to the formation of this graben/basin system is provided by the impact crater chai...

Replica a los artículos Sanchez, M.A. ; Gil, A. y Simón, J.L. (2017): Las rocas de falla del cabalgamiento de Daroca (sector central de la Cordillera Ibérica): Interpretación reológica y cinemática. Geogaceta, 61: 75-78. (http://www.sociedadgeologica.es/archivos/geogacetas/geo61/geo61_19p75_78.pdf) Casas-Sainz, A.M., Gil-Imaz, A., Simón, J.L., Izq...

The asteroid impact near the Russian city of Chelya-binsk in 2013 was the largest airburst on Earth since the 1908 Tunguska event. Meanwhile, there are scien-tists who consider airburst as much more dangerous for mankind than direct projectile impacts to form meteor-ite craters [1]. In the geological past impact cratering accompanied by giant airbu...

UHPHT natural glasses are interesting not only to geologists and mineralogists, but also to physicists, chemists, and materials scientists from the point of view of the fundamental problem of the existence of matter under extreme PT-conditions. The specificity of the structure of such materials requires complex study. In this work we used optical,...

Spallation is a well-known process in technical fracture mechanics. It describes strong tensile pulses, reflected from incident compression pulses at free surfaces, which can lead to decisive material damage due to the usually significantly lower tensile strength. In meteoric impacts with shock propagations, they play an important role in all dimen...

The quotation "Rufiniana, situated between Worms and Speyer", left by Ptolemy in 150, referred to a Roman town on the Rhine which was extremely important in terms of military and trade strategy and whose exact location has not been clarified to this day and which has led to various assumptions of a localisation. The opinion expressed in the 1930s b...

The Pelarda Formation (Fm.), located in the Iberian System in northeast Spain, is a sedimentary deposit with an extension of roughly 12 km x 2.5 km and an estimated thickness of no more than 400 m. The formation was first recognized as a peculiar unit in the early seventies and underwent interpretations like a fluvial or an alluvial fan deposit hav...

The Lairg Gravity Low may represent a buried impact crater ∼40 km across that was the source of the 1.2 Ga Stac Fada Member ejecta deposit but the gravity anomaly is too large to represent a simple crater and there is no evidence of a central peak. Reanalysis of the point Bouguer gravity data reveals a ring of positive anomalies around the central...

Introduction: The Ries crater impact structure in Germany measuring about 25 km in diameter, formed almost 15 million years ago in the Upper Miocene. In the early seventies, when the Ries impact origin began to replace the earlier volcanic explosion theory among most geologists, research results of the reputable Ba-varian geologist Erwin Rutte caus...

Spallation is a well-known process in technical fracture mechanics that describes the particularly destructive effect of dynamic tensile stresses as a result of reflected dynamic compressive stresses. In meteorite impacts, it is primarily reflected shock waves (rarefaction waves) that leave their mark in dimensions from mega to micro. We describe t...

In English: “Chiemgau Impact” is an event which took place in the Bronze Age / Iron Age with the creation of a large meteorite strewn field by the impact of a comet / asteroid in southeast Bavaria. The research is interdisciplinary from the outset. It covers, among other things, geology, geophysics, limnology, archaeology, mineralogy, speleology,...

Unusual carbonaceous matter, termed here chiemite, composed of more than 90% C from the Alpine Foreland at Lake Chiemsee in Bavaria, southeastern Germany has been investigated using optical and atomic force microscopy, X‐ray fluorescence spectroscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, high‐resolution Raman spectroscopy, X‐ray diffracti...

Pink quartz, not to be confused with rose quartz, is an extremely rare color variety, which is completely transparent and is only known from a few occurrences worldwide. It is believed that the pink color is due to small amounts of aluminum and phosphorus that substitute silicon, and exposure of the quartz to natural gamma radiation. Sands with a d...

In nature extreme PT-conditions result in numerous glass-like solids, the study of which allows specifying various structural and chemical features of extreme materials, which have a great application potential in various fields of technology. We studied features of nanostructure of natural impact glasses, including recently discovered ultrahigh-pr...

The state of substances under ultrahigh pressures and temperatures (UHPHT) now raises a special interest as a matter existing under extreme conditions and as potential new material. Under laboratory conditions only small amounts of micrometer-sized matter are produced at a pressure up to 100 GPa and at room temperature. Simultaneous combination of...

The meteorite impact event in the Czech Republic-discussion and conclusions-In addition to strong evidence from earlier studies new field and lab investigations strengthen the reality of a young meteorite impact event in the Czech Republic.-The new results focus on the discovery of the widespread occurrence of an asphaltic (bituminous) polymictic b...

https://curator. jsc.nasa.gov/antmet/lmc/lmc.cfm, accessed 1/6/18.-A peculiar geological element in the Niederrhein region completely alien to established geologic mapping and knowledge suggests an origin from an extended (50 km at least) meteorite impact event in the Middle Pleistocene.-Considerable amounts of the impactor are preserved as meteori...