New evidence for the case of a large comet impacting the Earth’s atmosphere over North America nearly 13,000 years ago has been discovered, this time in the form of microscopic debris recovered from beneath the ocean floor in the Arctic. The powerful, high-altitude explosion that would have resulted from such an event would go a long way toward explaining why the world made a brief return to colder temperatures after the global ice sheets began to melt, and why humanity underwent a major transformation at that time.

Shortly after the ice sheets that covered North America and Eurasia during the Pleistocene epoch began to retreat, global temperatures dropped again by 0.6°C (1.1°F) for about 1,200 years, a period referred to as the Younger Dryas. Although the concept is still controversial, the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH) posits that a massive explosion, caused by the impact of a large comet with the Earth’s atmosphere, triggered a runaway melting event in the remaining North American ice sheet.

The event would have sparked massive fires across the continent, causing an abrupt change in the global climate that hastened the extinction of numerous species of megafauna, along with the disappearance of the peoples now referred to as the Clovis culture.

In recent years, evidence supporting the occurrence of such an impact has emerged with the discovery of high concentrations of iridium and platinum—elements that asteroids and comets tend to be rich in—in a geological layer that dates to 12,800 years ago called the Younger Dryas boundary (YDB). The YDB has also yielded the presence of shock-fractured quartz, formed under the violent heat and pressure of a meteor impact.

Adding to that growing body of evidence is a recent study of core samples taken from the ocean floor in Baffin Bay that discovered silica and iron-rich microspherules—mineral globules formed during impact events—in layers confirmed to be 12,800 years old by the radiocarbon dating of organic material in the samples.

“The Younger Dryas sediment layer in the Baffin cores contains multiple proxies consistent with an impact event,” explained study lead Christopher Moore, a geoscientist with the University of South Carolina. “Microspherules, twisted and deformed metallic dust particles with chemistry consistent with comet or meteoritic material, meltglass, and identification of nanoparticle peaks in key elements (e.g., platinum and iridium) suggest an impact event.”

“This evidence is supported by the findings on terrestrial sites on multiple continents in both hemispheres,” Moore added. “This work builds on other evidence that the Younger Dryas impact event was likely global in scale.”

The samples were also analyzed using a technique called single-particle inductively coupled plasma time-of-flight mass spectrometry (spICP-TOF-MS) that found nanoparticles that were “enriched in platinum, iridium, nickel, and cobalt,” according to the study text. “Similar platinum-group element anomalies at the [Younger Dryas boundary] have been documented at dozens of sites worldwide, strongly suggesting an ET source.”

In his 2025 book The Fourth Mind, Whitley discusses the possibility that it was the catastrophic Younger Dryas impact that caused Earth’s global culture to lose the telepathic and other psychic abilities they used to perform wonders, abilities still used by the Visitors—a birthright we may be able to reclaim.