Microscopic Diamonds Support Theory of Meteor Impact 12,800 Years Ago

From the Daily Mail:

Around 12,800 years ago Earth was plunged into a ‘Big Freeze’, resulting in the extinction of many species. What caused this event, however, is not known. 

One theory is that Earth was struck by a comet or asteroid at the time and now new research supporting the theory has been released. 

By studying nanodiamonds scattered across Europe, North America and South America, the researchers say the impact theory is right. 

In the University of Chicago study, scientists claim the Younger Dryas (YD) period - the name given to the cooling episode about 12,800 years ago - was the result of a cosmic impact. 

This drastic climate change coincided with the extinction of Pleistocene megafauna, such as the saber-tooth cats and the mastodon, and resulted in major declines in prehistoric human populations, including the end of the prehistoric Paleo-Indian Clovis culture. 

The result of the impact, they say, was a YD Boundary (YDB) layer of nanodiamonds scattered over 19 million square miles (50 million square km).