Quote:
Originally Posted by AK
The book is called Life As We Do Not Know It. No, our theories of the Permian extinction do not involve bolide impact. I thought the paper about the Bedout crater was interesting but Peter doesn't buy it, although I've never gotten a good explanation why out of him.
David and I are kindred spirits of a sort, being both not only astrobiologists and at least occasional users of leafy green substances (I don't really consider myself a stoner), we're both rock guitarists...
|
What does Peter think about the big Antarctic crater that was recently discovered? I don't see how a disaster that huge could have been caused by anything BUT a massive bolide or other calamity from space. What else could make a nice promising planet go drastically wrong? Nobody was driving SUV's then, either.
Emotionally I prefer the bolide impact explanation because it's like the difference between being beaten up by a stranger and by your mother (Earth). I think a bolide could have caused the volcanism, which would have led to the other effects. I believe Mars must have been hit by something massive, which caused volcanoes and geological scars huger than anything in the solar system.
I got so obsessed with the Permian Extinction that after I watched War of the Worlds I wrote a SF story about how methane-breathing Aliens caused the extinction because they were trying to "xenoform" Earth.
http://www.geocities.com/shadow42.geo/7fingered.html
Peter Ward's book and the astrobiology articles about Titan inspired this story.
Leafy green stuff is great, and so is Rock guitar!!! (I used to play bass.)