A new study released Friday reports that the tiny diamonds sprinkled all over North America can suggest a swarm of comets hit the Earth around 13,000 years ago, kicking up enough disruption to send the planet into a cold spell and drive mammoths and other creatures into extinction. Amazing as it seems, scientists say this would transcend anything Biblical, a series of blinding explosions in the atmosphere equivalent to thousands of atomic bombs.

 

The diamonds are called nanodiamonds and they are made under high-temperature, high-pressure conditions, which might have been created by cosmic impacts, similar to an explosion over Tunguska in Siberia that flattened trees for miles in 1908. These diamonds have been found at sites from Arizona to South Carolina and into Alberta and Manitoba in Canada.

 

They are buried at a level that corresponds to the beginning 12,900 years ago of the Younger Dryas, a 1,300-year-long cold spell. During this, North American mammoths, saber-toothed cats, camels and giant sloths became extinct. Furthermore, the Clovis culture of American Indians also appears to have fallen apart during this time.

 

Scientists report they have evidence of the nanodiamonds from six sites across North America, fitting in with the hypothesis that a giant explosion, or multiple explosions, above the Earth's surface cause widespread fire and pressure. In addition, it looks like the head and pressure could have melted part of the Greenland ice sheet, causing currents to change and affecting climate.

 

Any impacts would have kicked up dust that would have shrouded the sun and lowered temperature, therefore endangering animals and plants. It is certain that these discoveries provide enough evidence for a cosmic impact event at approximately 12,900 years ago that would have had environmental consequences for plans, animals and humans across North America.