Effect of high frequency of impact events on geography,climate, and environment

Earth sized planet in the goldilocks zone. Similar mineral composition and surface water. Photosynthetic life evolves and thrives on land and sea. Atmosphere and climate comparable to the beginning of the Pleistocene glaciation period on Earth. Over a period of a half million years the planet begins to experience a higher rate of impact events from meteorites.

What effect would this have on the planet's geography, climate, and environment?

Upper atmosphere detonation of "stones" (stony asteroids) and "irons" (iron asteroids), <3% which penetrate to surface, with yield <10 megatonnes occurs daily.

Meteorites less than and equal to 75m with 10-100MT yield impact annually. Irons make craters up to 1.5km in diameter (Barringer Crater); Stones produce air-bursts (Tunguska). Land impacts could destroy areas the size of a city (Washington, London, Moscow.)

Irons and stones up to 160m in diameter produce ground-bursts every 10 years. 100-1,000MT yield, 3km crater. Ocean impacts produce significant tsunamis. Land impacts destroy areas the size of a large urban area (New York, Tokyo).

Objects up to 350m with 1,000-10,000MT yield impact every 100 years. Ocean-wide tsunamis are produced by ocean impacts. Land impacts leave 6km craters and destroy areas the size of a small state (Delaware, Estonia).

posted about 4 years ago

Eloc‭

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