YazataNov 20, 2017 04:51 AM (This post was last modified: Nov 20, 2017 05:12 AM by Yazata.)
This is described in Ming dynasty records as a rain of countless rocks from the sky, that killed an estimated 10,000 and caused a mass exodus from the effected Chinese region. The event is recorded in the official Ming annals and in local gazettes and histories.
One contemporary report reads in part: "Stones fell like rain in the Ch'ing-yang district... Their sizes were all different. The larger ones were like goose's eggs and the smaller ones were like water-chestnuts. More than 10,000 people were struck dead. All the people in the city fled to other places."
The speculation seems to be that these were meteorites, perhaps fragments from a larger stony object that broke up high in the atmosphere, that hit this area like a shotgun blast.
Paper from Cal Tech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory that discusses and provides statistics on what appear to be meteorite falls in Chinese records that resulted in human casualties, in including this grand scale one.
(Nov 20, 2017 04:51 AM)Yazata Wrote: This is described in Ming dynasty records as a rain of countless rocks from the sky, that killed an estimated 10,000 and caused a mass exodus from the effected Chinese region. The event is recorded in the official Ming annals and in local gazettes and histories.
One contemporary report reads in part: "Stones fell like rain in the Ch'ing-yang district... Their sizes were all different. The larger ones were like goose's eggs and the smaller ones were like water-chestnuts. More than 10,000 people were struck dead. All the people in the city fled to other places."
The speculation seems to be that these were meteorites, perhaps fragments from a larger stony object that broke up high in the atmosphere, that hit this area like a shotgun blast.
Paper from Cal Tech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory that discusses and provides statistics on what appear to be meteorite falls in Chinese records that resulted in human casualties, in including this grand scale one.
far more likely would be a volcano blowing up a large localised amount of rock.
there would need to be colaborating reports of fire in the sky type observations with reports of explosions.
keeping in mind with soo many dead it may be hard to get a reliable witness.
other possible casuses
methane sink being ignited.(type of pre-fracktured rock around coal-seems etc... maybe crystaline) lignite, cave explosion...
geothermal activity sudden gas expulsion
volcanic explosion venting half way up a volcano driving out rocks of a mountain side of scree.
geologically it is EXTREMELY rare to get a uniform range of rock objects air-born
statistically to get that quantity of uniform rocks, would require them already made to that size, thus on a hillside or a up-thrust fault sea shore line venting eruption.
additionally...
rock does not uniformly break into uniform size peieces except in rare occasions.
those occasions would be the type of rock & the type of explosive force and direction applied.
other possible options are a tornado/water spout.
keeping in mind it has been recorded to rain frogs & fish on many occasions...houses, stock animals...blades of grass driven into fence posts like nails....
nature is quite a thing.
(Nov 20, 2017 04:51 AM)Yazata Wrote: This is described in Ming dynasty records as a rain of countless rocks from the sky, that killed an estimated 10,000 and caused a mass exodus from the effected Chinese region. The event is recorded in the official Ming annals and in local gazettes and histories.
One contemporary report reads in part: "Stones fell like rain in the Ch'ing-yang district... Their sizes were all different. The larger ones were like goose's eggs and the smaller ones were like water-chestnuts. More than 10,000 people were struck dead. All the people in the city fled to other places."
The speculation seems to be that these were meteorites, perhaps fragments from a larger stony object that broke up high in the atmosphere, that hit this area like a shotgun blast.
Paper from Cal Tech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory that discusses and provides statistics on what appear to be meteorite falls in Chinese records that resulted in human casualties, in including this grand scale one.
I don't believe it was a meteor shower. An exploding meteorite would be dropping large burning fragments in one area and not evenly distributed small stones over a large area. Rains of stones are a not too uncommon fortean phenomenon. Here's some historical examples of such:
I started this thread as a spinoff of the bolide thread.
I'm still inclined to go with the meteorite theory. But if all the gravel-sized rocks came from a larger object that was burning up and fragmenting in the upper atmosphere, one would expect to see reports of an exceedingly bright light (like a second Sun) in the sky too.
And apparently the Chinese records (not the best, it was the 1400's) don't mention the rocks being hot. But I'm less moved by that, since the way China operated, the records might have been written by imperial mandarins sent to inspect the stricken area, and the rocks might have cooled by the time they arrived several days later. The high loss of life suggests that the rocks were moving rapidly, like a load of cosmic buckshot.
That isn't outlandish. The Pultusk meteorite fall in rural Poland in 1868 consisted of some 70,000 mostly pea-sized (or bullet-sized...) fragments. Some were larger. They fell over a 70 sq mile area. (~1000/sq mile). That could have caused a significant loss of life it if happened over a densely populated city. This one was indeed associated with a fireball. Many fragments were collected, are in Polish natural history museums today, and have been examined and analyzed. They are H-chrondrites, the common sort of iron-rich stony meteorites.
China has its share of volcanos. Could they have been a little too close to a big blast?
From an Oregon State Volcano website:
Quote:Data from a very extensive study of the AD 79 Vesuvius eruption by Haroldur Sigurdsson shows that for each of two particularly strong blasts during the eruption, the pumice layer was 100 cm thick up to ~20 km downwind, 50 cm thick out to about 50 km, 25 cm thick out at ~60 km, and so on. Pumice 15 cm in diameter made it out ~6 km downwind, 10-cm pumice made it ~7 km, and 5-cm pumice even further.
(Nov 20, 2017 08:02 PM)Yazata Wrote: I started this thread as a spinoff of the bolide thread.
I'm still inclined to go with the meteorite theory. But if all the gravel-sized rocks came from a larger object that was burning up and fragmenting in the upper atmosphere, one would expect to see reports of an exceedingly bright light (like a second Sun) in the sky too.
And apparently the Chinese records (not the best, it was the 1400's) don't mention the rocks being hot. But I'm less moved by that, since the way China operated, the records might have been written by imperial mandarins sent to inspect the stricken area, and the rocks might have cooled by the time they arrived several days later. The high loss of life suggests that the rocks were moving rapidly, like a load of cosmic buckshot.
That isn't outlandish. The Pultusk meteorite fall in rural Poland in 1868 consisted of some 70,000 mostly pea-sized (or bullet-sized...) fragments. Some were larger. They fell over a 70 sq mile area. (~1000/sq mile). That could have caused a significant loss of life it if happened over a densely populated city. This one was indeed associated with a fireball. Many fragments were collected, are in Polish natural history museums today, and have been examined and analyzed. They are H-chrondrites, the common sort of iron-rich stony meteorites.
Sounds plausible. Although the lack of description of the blinding flash and sonic shockwave seems odd. Maybe it exploded on a cloudy day above the clouds.
Nov 20, 2017 04:51 AM
(This post was last modified: Nov 20, 2017 05:12 AM by Yazata.)
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