I have looked at some of the evidence that David Anderson has for an impact in Inner Mongolia, and it can be consistent with an impact source. For example, some of the debris lodged in the Hong Shong glass has been probed with Raman spectroscopy and demonstrates a classic diamond peak. This diamond peak has a large full width at half width which is likely due to strain within the crystal lattice which can occur when the crystal structure is formed from vapour deposition.

However, while the physical evidence may be compatible with an impact origin, there is poor chronological constraint for the impact (assuming there was an impact). All one can say is that if there was an impact then it had to have occurred before approximately four to six thousand years ago. In other words, there is no good reason to connect it to the beginning of the Younger Dryas, other than someone else has suggested that there may have been an impact at this time. Without evidence to constrain the timing of the evidence further, then if the evidence is of impact origin, that impact could be at any time in the past (before, during, or after the YD). Linking it to the YD is a very bad case of suck in and smear.

JOnny

The path to good scholarship is paved with imagined patterns. - David M Raup