11/1/2022
The impactor has been influenced by a myriad of celestial bodies and is now entering the extreme limits of earth’s atmosphere at 10,000 kilometers. It is traveling from the southeast towards a northwest direction and therefore does not have the ultimate energy of a direct hit. Its vector-based direction is now exposed to more deceleration as it is impeded by more atmospheric friction. As it travels through at speeds in excess of 31+ kilometers/second, the impactor suddenly experiences massive heating around 100 kilometers above the surface. For this brief time interval, the frozen gases expand, and internal forces blow off chunks that separate from the main body and become individual missiles. Whatever time in history this moment is, the world was different then because of plate tectonics. The only known component was its collision with the now North American (N.A.) craton. Somewhere in its 4.54-billion-year-old history, there was a shallow sea in the area of the impact. Under the water’s surface was a concretion of limestone rock deposited by dead sea creatures and calcium/magnesium compounds precipitated out of the solutions. The water above would act as a giant brake as it flashed to steam and rapidly decelerate the impactor. This would have resulted in diminished forces that occur when solids collide with solids. This gas/gas collision would not have the traits of an iron meteorite that hits a rocky land mass. Energy levels would be lower and therefore lack the threshold numbers for forming shock cones and gravitational anomalies used for verification of a meteorite hit that is used today. This type of collision has a different footprint, but a similar footprint, to be sure because of the enormous energy released. The main impact site was on the N.A. craton where present day Lower Michigan is today. The rebound core experienced the same upthrust recoil that takes place in a meteorite collision but, possibly, at a slower speed thus, lacking telltale shock cones.
