Modeling how a Powerful Airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, a Middle Bronze Age city near the Dead Sea

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11310%2F24%3A10493607" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11310/24:10493607 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=GHNXzuonud" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=GHNXzuonud</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.14293/ACI.2024.0005" target="_blank" >10.14293/ACI.2024.0005</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Modeling how a Powerful Airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, a Middle Bronze Age city near the Dead Sea

Original language description

A previous study presented evidence supporting the hypothesis that a low-altitude airburst approximately 3600 years ago destroyed Tall el-Hammam, a Middle-Bronze-Age city northeast of the Dead Sea in modern-day Jordan. The evidence supporting this hypothesis includes a widespread charcoal-and-ash-rich terminal destruction layer containing shock-fractured quartz, shattered and melted pottery, melted mudbricks and building plaster, microspherules, charcoal and soot, and melted grains of platinum, iridium, nickel, zircon, chromite, and quartz. Here, we report further evidence supporting a cosmic airburst event at Tall el-Hammam. Fifteen years of excavations across the city revealed a consistent directionality among scattered potsherds from individually decorated vessels, including one potsherd group distributed laterally approximately southwest to northeast across ~22 m, spanning six palace walls. Similar trails of charred grains, charcoal, and bone fragments were also found distributed across multi-meter distances inside the destroyed city. Although an earlier report of the directionality of this debris was challenged, further evidence presented here strengthens that interpretation. We also report Middle-Bronze-Age partially melted breccia that likely formed at &gt;2230 °C, consistent with a cosmic event. We investigated additional glass-filled fractured quartz grains using ten analytical techniques, including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), cathodoluminescence (CL), and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). These grains are inferred to have formed by high-pressure shock metamorphism, consistent with an earlier report that has been challenged. To test that the mode of destruction could have been an airburst, we produced a hydrocode computer model of a Type 2 or touch-down airburst, in which a high-temperature, high-pressure, high-velocity jet intersects Earth&apos;s surface, producing meltglass, microspherules, and shock metamorphism. The modeling shows that the explosive energy released can propel high-velocity airburst fragments to strike the Earth&apos;s surface, producing shock metamorphism and creating superficial craters potentially susceptible to geologically rapid erosion. Although the probability of such airbursts is low, the potential for substantial damage is high, especially in cities.

Czech name

—

Czech description

—

Type

J_ost - Miscellaneous article in a specialist periodical

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10505 - Geology

Project

Result was created during the realization of more than one project. More information in the Projects tab.

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2024

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Airbursts and Cratering Impacts

ISSN

2941-9085

e-ISSN

2941-9085

Volume of the periodical

2

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

DE - GERMANY

Number of pages

52

Pages from-to

1-52

UT code for WoS article

—

EID of the result in the Scopus database

—