The Desert Scar Hypothesis
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The Desert Scar Hypothesis proposes that deserts represent planetary scar tissue from high-energy cosmic events, rather than the product of gradual climate change alone. Using the Younger Dryas black mat as a test case, the study highlights evidence of silica microspherules, platinum anomalies, and abrupt ecological collapse. While soluble salts are absent from published analyses, their high mobility suggests they were lost in lacustrine settings but preserved in closed basins such as the Dead Sea. This framework offers a falsifiable model linking meteoritic fallout to sudden desertification, anomalous basin salinity, and global ocean chemistry.
Author: Jackson, Richard
Language: English
Subfield: Atmospheric Science
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7082363220
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