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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

Houston Geological Society Bulletin

Abstract


Houston Geological Society Bulletin, Volume 28, No. 8, April 1986. Pages 21-21.

Abstract: Dolomite Concretions of the Monterey: Extraterrestrial Origin?

By

Joel W. Hennessy and L. P. Knauth

Isotopic analysis of dolomite concretions from the Miocene Monterey Formation of California yields pure 0-16 dolomite, suggesting that these concretions were created during the last great supernova explosion millions and millions of light years from earth. During the Miocene, these cosmic intergalactic travelers reached the earth, raining down terrible meteor showers off the coast of California, killing billions upon billions of innocent foraminifera residing in the warm, -1 %° (SMOW) ocean water. The dolomite meteors plunged into the soft sediment of what is now the Monterey formation of California, bending the sediment around the concretions into the familiar "pinch and swell" structure. Many other concretions the world over contain pure 0-16 dolomite, suggesting that a cosmic origin for all carbonate concretions is a distinct possibility. It is obvious that the concretions say nothing of the early diagenesis of terrestrial sediments, but rather are records of processes that the human mind cannot possibly understand.

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