These microscopic particles may have been created by a collision with a disintegrating comet more than 12,000 years ago, according to a new study. (Image credit: Moore et al. 2025, PLOS One, CC-BY 4.0)
Scientists have uncovered new evidence that a huge comet trail may have triggered climate change on Earth more than 12,000 years ago.
Tiny particles found in ocean sediment cores confirm that dust from a large, disintegrating comet entered Earth’s atmosphere around the start of the Younger Dryas, a period of abrupt cooling that saw temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere drop by 10 degrees Celsius in just a year. The researchers reported their findings Aug. 6 in the journal PLOS One.
“The amount of cometary dust in the atmosphere was significant enough to cause a short-term 'impact winter' that led to a long-term cold snap,” said study co-author Vladimir Tselmovich, a geologist at the Borok Geophysical Observatory in Russia.
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