Coherent catastrophism

Victor Clube and Bill Napier pioneered coherent catastrophism in the late 1970s, although their theory didn't acquire this name until later. The principle of coherent catastrophism has been summarized by Sweatman and Tsikritsis.
Briefly, this theory proposes that the Earth is at greater risk of meteoric bombardment and hence catastrophe while a giant comet breaks up in the inner solar system. According to Clube and Napier, the latest episode of coherent catastrophism is caused by the progenitor of comet Encke, a giant comet that entered the inner solar system around 20 to 30 thousand years ago, resulting in the Taurid meteor streams, among others. Although the Taurid meteor stream is currently not thought to be very active, due to precession of the perihelion of this stream's orbit, Earth's orbit is expected to intersect denser regions of this meteor stream four times every roughly 6000 years, hence resulting in a coherent pattern of potential bombardment.
While the origin of the Taurid meteor stream is not disputed, its consequences in terms of any catastrophic encounters has been. This is currently a matter of debate.
Evidence
Evidence supporting coherent catastrophism is mainly to be found in the scientific astronomical literature. See reference and and references therein.
Since 2007, coherent catastrophism resulting from the Taurid meteor stream, and associated entities, has received support in the form of physical evidence from various earth sciences associated with the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis. However, this evidence is often disputed, and even accepting the YD impact hypothesis, the nature of the impactor is not established. The impactor has appeared to generate a platinum layer across the North American continent and Greenland, but it is not clear whether a platinum signal is consistent wit the Taurid meteor stream.
In 2017, coherent catastrophism received further support from researchers from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Engineering in the form of evidence from Gobekli Tepe. Sweatman and Tsikritsis<ref name=":0" /> suggest carvings made on stone pillars at Gobekli Tepe can be interpreted as recording the Taurid meteor stream as being responsible for the YD event, and they therefore suggest this evidence supports coherent catastrophism.
 
< Prev   Next >