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From: jim%rand-unix@sri-unix.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: Inaccuracy in V?
Message-ID: <2116@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 20-Jun-83 01:38:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.2116
Posted: Mon Jun 20 01:38:00 1983
Date-Received: Wed, 15-Jun-83 18:47:32 EDT
Lines: 12

Re: complaint about ancient meteor mentioned in V

I didn't notice that they called the large event in our past a meteor
rather than a meteorite, but I was impressed that they cited iridium
as one of its main components.  I believe it was only last year that
some scientists (the name Luis Alvarez comes to mind, but I could be wrong)
discovered a layer of iridium in several widely separated places that
was deposited at the same time, coeval with one of the major extinctions
(was it the end of the Carboniferous??).  The iridium was orders of magnitude
more than in previous years, and tapered off.  The conclusion was that it
was part of a meteorite that caused the extinctions.  As I say, I was
pleased that the writers had done their homework.