What If . . . ?

We all know about the Chicxulub impact -- the famous "dinosaur killer" asteroid which smashed into Yucatan 65 million years ago and ended the Cretaceous era with a bang. It may have had help. Paleontologist Sankar Chatterjee, of Texas Tech University, has identified another ancient crater he calls "Shiva," near modern-day Mumbai in India. The jury isn't quite in on Shiva yet -- so far no other researcher has confirmed Dr. Chatterjee's research -- but the prospect of two simultaneous dinosaur-killer impacts sets my science fiction writing organs twitching. Stand by for some completely wild speculation.

It's interesting to note how both Chicxulub and Dr. Chatterjee's site for Shiva are coastal sites. I don't know if anyone has tried to search for craters on the ocean floor (or if it's even feasible in the deep basins) but it does seem odd that on a planet with ocean covering 75 percent of the surface two major impacts should nevertheless strike dry land.

And not just any dry land -- the seacoast. Exactly the sort of place where human settlements tend to spring up. I find myself wondering if the twin impacts were not natural disasters at all, but deliberate attacks. I imagine 65 million years ago, visitors from Somewhere Else setting up colonies on Earth. They could handle dinosaurs and the planet's persistent volcanic activity -- but they had enemies. Maybe they fled to Earth to get away from these enemies, or maybe they were caught unawares. Their enemies diverted two asteroids, carefully timing the impacts to take place in close succession. Each mass smashed one colony site, and the climate disruption made sure any survivors would die out with the dinosaurs.

I said this was wild speculation, but is there any way to test it? Giant impacts wouldn't leave much behind, especially after 65 million years, so there's no use looking for "out-of-place artifacts" in Yucatan or India. What other traces might point to ancient colonists and an ancient war? It's not entirely frivolous to think about this -- because who knows if the Dinosaur Killers are still out there? 

Comments

[Thom H.]

Was somebody named Xenu involved in this? ;-)

And although it's fun to play around with ideas like this, it seems unreasonable. Much like aliens abducting humans to do anal probes or collect sperm. Any beings with the technology to master interstellar travel would have sufficient technology to gather medical data on humans without invasive probes (think MRI scans at the very least), or do genetic studies and cloning with a few skin cells. So I'm thinking any alien civilization with the power to aim asteroids would also have the power to just vaporize their enemies without resorting to a game of celestial Asteroids.

[Ian M]

Well, it might be a lot cheaper to simply drop a big rock rather than waste an expensive nuke or two. Either way, assuming your targetting is good, the target WILL go away. ;)

Interesting speculation, but note that a lot of impact craters have been found (or, to be more accurate, identified as such) in recent years - some in the ocean and others on land. That at least a couple might be in coastal regions does not exactly seem weird to me, even if they both arrived at about the same time.