The Holocene Impact Working Group is a group of scientists from Australia, France, Ireland, Russia and the USA who hypothesize that meteorite impacts on Earth are more common than previously supposed.
The group posits one large impact (equivalent to a 10-megaton bomb) every 1,000 years. This estimate is based on evidence of five to ten large impact events in the last 10,000 years. Satellite observations suggest the presence of many recent impact craters and landforms such as chevrons which are thought to have been caused by megatsunamis. The chevrons often point in the direction of specific hypothesized impact craters, the supposition being that the chevrons were deposited by tsunamis originating from the impacts which formed those proposed craters. Study of chevrons however shows they are not consistent with the tsunami hypothesis.[1][2]
A prime example the group cites is the impact event named Burckle crater which the group claims is located off the coasts of Australia and Madagascar. This seminal event is both recent and relatively large in the Earth's geologic time scale. As one of the cited events, the group indicates much more frequent impact events contrary to other research group frequency analysis results. If such a frequency proves out, then large impacts may show that efforts of the B612 Foundation become apparently critical considering known history of Tunguska event and others less clearly determined sizable enough to damage civilization.
The group states that their hypothesis is likely to be controversial: "I wouldn't expect 99.9 per cent of (the scientific community) to agree with us"[3] Their work is controversial because it contradicts much of what is understood about impacts and tsunamis.
Group Members: