Younger Dryas impact hypothesis

Topic

The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis is a controversial scientific proposal suggesting that the onset of the Younger Dryas cooling period, around 12,900 years ago, was triggered by the impact or airburst of a disintegrating comet or asteroid. Proponents argue this event caused widespread wildfires, contributed to the extinction of Pleistocene megafauna, and disrupted the Clovis culture. However, the hypothesis remains widely disputed and rejected by a majority of mainstream geologists, astronomers, and paleontologists due to a lack of reproducible evidence.