Supernova Might Have Wiped Out Mammoths
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
A nearby supernova 41,000 years ago may have led to the extinction of the mammoth and other large creatures on Earth, researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will report today at an international conference in South Dakota. The team believes that debris from the explosion, about 250 light-years from Earth, coalesced into low-density comet-like objects that rained onto our planet 13,000 years ago.
They believe they have found evidence of the supernova’s initial shockwave -- mammoth tusks peppered with tiny impact craters produced by iron grains traveling about 6,000 miles per second.
