ERNSTSON CLAUDIN IMPACT STRUCTURES – METEORITE CRATERS

Kord Ernstson 1 and Jens Poßekel 2

Abstract.- We comment with a few sentences on an article by the three authors, which casts a pretty bad light on the Meteoritical Society and its journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science and lets guess why this survived the peer review of the journal and did not end up in the trash.

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1University of Würzburg, 97074 Würzburg (Germany) kernstson@ernstson.de, 2Geophysics Poßekel Mülheim (Germany) possekeljens@gmail.com.

1 Introduction

The open-access article published in the latest issue of MAPS by Huber, Lauterbach and Darga, with the peer reviewers Reimold and Boslough, and editorial handling by C. Koeberl, is at such a low level that was never expected from the renowned journal of the Meteoritical Society. The authors, a former marine geologist and now a manager of science data, a non-scientific private person, and a glacial geologist, have never worked on meteoritic impacts and impact-research topics of impact geology, impact geophysics, impact mineralogy/petrography, impact geochemistry, shock metamorphism, crater formation processes, and impact fracture mechanics, and certainly have not published seriously. Their article is currently their final point under almost 20 years of bitter, partly polemical attempts to describe the world’s most important Holocene impact event (see the publication list below) as non-existent and a myth. The fact that some impact databases continue to ignore this does not make things better or more convincing.

2 Short scathing review

The article by Huber, Lauterbach and Darga is so wrong, abstruse and misleading that we completely refrain from opposing a further comment or a reply, as is usually appreciated in science. We refer only to the references, in which no more than four (4) contributions by Chiemgau researchers are listed. Instead, we refer to the following list of previous publications on the Chiemgau impact from the past 20 years.

3 The list of previous 55 (fifty-five) publications on the Chiemgau impact

The following list can also be downloaded as a PDF. Most of the articles are also DOI-clickable and can be read online.

4 Discussion

The discussion can also remain short after the previous remarks. 20 years of research on the Chiemgau impact, with completely new findings on low-altitude touchdown airburst impacts and an imposing paradigm shift in impact research, show how absurd the article-fairytale narration of the authors Huber, Lauterbach and Darga is. It is incomprehensible that the editor-in-chief of Meteoritics and Planetary Science let this go through, presumably in reliance on peer reviewers Reimold and Boslough, and the handling editor C. Koeberl, which is not a page of glory for the journal. For the current author K.E., the pressing question arises, and he seriously considers whether he will, after approx. 40 years or more of membership in the society terminates it, if such a thing is possible in their official journal, especially since earlier there were several reasons for K.E. to perceive contributions by well-known impact authors who have appeared in the journal as discrediting impact researcher colleagues, and to spot other questionable impact articles “waved through“ by the editors.

Peer-reviewed articles

• Rappenglück, B., Hiltl, M., Poßekel, J., Rappenglück, M. A., Ernstson, K. (2023) People experienced the prehistoric Chiemgau meteorite impact – geoarchaeological evidence from southeastern Germany: a review. Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry 23, no. 1, 1209-234. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7775799
• Ernstson, K., Bauer, F., Hiltl, M. (2023) A Prominent Iron Silicides Strewn Field and Its Relation to the Bronze Age/Iron Age Chiemgau Meteorite Impact Event (Germany). Earth Sciences. Vol. 12, No. 1, 26-40. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20231201.14
• Rappenglück, M. A. (2022) Natural Iron Silicides: A Systematic Review. Minerals, Vol. 12, No. 2, p. 188. https://doi.org/10.3390/min12020188
• Rappenglück, B., Hiltl, M., Ernstson, K. (2021) The Chiemgau Impact: evidence of a Latest Bronze Age/Early Iron Age meteorite impact in the archaeological record, and resulting critical considerations of catastrophism. – In: A. César González-García, Roslyn M. Frank, Lionel D. Sims, Michael A. Rappenglück, Georg Zotti, Juan A. Belmonte, Ivan Šprajc (eds.), Beyond Paradigms in Cultural Astronomy (BAR International Series 3033), Oxford, 57-64.
• Rappenglück, B., Hiltl, M., Rappenglück, M. A., Ernstson, K. (2020b) The Chiemgau Impact — a meteorite impact in the Bronze/Iron Age and its extraordinary appearance in the archaeological record. – In: G. Wolfschmidt (ed.) Himmelswelten und Kosmovisionen — Imaginationen, Modelle, Weltanschauungen: Proceedings der Tagung der Gesellschaft für Archäoastronomie in Gilching, 29.–31. März 2019, Hamburg: tredition, 330–349.
• Rappenglück, B., Hiltl, M., Ernstson, K. (2020a): Exceptional evidence of a meteorite impact at the archaeological site of Stöttham (Chiemgau, SE-Germany). – In: S. Draxler, M. Lippitsch, G. Wolfschmidt (eds.) Harmony and Symmetrie. Celestial regularities shaping human cultures: Proceedings of the 26th Annual Meeting of the European Society of Astronomy in Culture, August 27 – September 2018, Graz, Hamburg: tredition, 116-125.
• Shumilova, T. G., Isaenko, S. I., Ulyashev, V. V., Makeev, B. A., Rappenglück, M. A., Veligzhanin, A. A., Ernstson, K. (2018): Enigmatic Glass-Like Carbon from the Alpine Foreland, Southeast Germany: A Natural Carbonization Process. – Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition), Vol. 92, Issue 6, 2179-2200. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1755-6724.13722
• Rappenglück, M., Rappenglück, B., Ernstson, K. (2017) Kosmische Kollision in der Frühgeschichte. Der Chiemgau-Impakt: Die Erforschung eines bayerischen Meteoritenkrater-Streufelds. – Zeitschrift für Anomalistik, 17, 235-260.
• Rappenglück, B. (2013) Myths and motifs as reflections of prehistoric cosmic events: some methodological considerations. – In: I. Šprajc and P. Pehani (eds), Ancient cosmologies and modern prophets. Proceedings of the SEAC 2012 conference. Ljubljana: Slovene Anthropological Society (= Anthropological Notebooks year XIX, supplement), 67-83.
• Ernstson, K., Sideris, C., Liritzis, I., Neumair, A. (2012) The Chiemgau meteorite impact signature of the Stöttham archaeological site (Southeast Germany). – Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, 12, no. 2, 249-259. https://www.maajournal.com/index.php/maa/article/view/494
• Ernstson, K., Mayer, W., Neumair, A., Sudhaus, D. (2011) The sinkhole enigma in the Alpine Foreland, Southeast Germany: Evidence of impact-induced rock liquefaction processes. – Central European Journal of Geosciences 3, no. 4, 385-397. https://doi.org/10.2478/s13533-011-0038-y
• Liritzis, I., Zacharias, N., Polymeris, G. S., Kitis, G., Ernstson, K., Sudhaus, D., Neumair, A., Mayer, W., Rappenglück, M. A., Rappenglück, B. (2010) The Chiemgau meteorite impact and tsunami event (Southeast Germany): First OSL dating. – Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, 10, no. 4, 17-33.
• Rappenglück, B., Rappenglück, M. A., Ernstson, K., Mayer, W., Neumair, A., Sudhaus, D., Liritzis, I. (2010) The fall of Phaethon: a Greco-Roman geomyth preserves the memory of a meteorite impact in Bavaria (south-east Germany). – Antiquity, 84, 428-439. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00066680
• Ernstson, K., Mayer, W., Neumair, A., Rappenglück, B., Rappenglück, M.A., Sudhaus, D., Zeller, K.W. (2010) The Chiemgau crater strewn field: evidence of a Holocene large impact in southeast Bavaria, Germany. – Journal of Siberian Federal University, Engineering & Technology, 1 (3), 72-103.
• Rappenglück, B., Ernstson, K., Mayer, W., Neumair, A., Rappenglück, M.A., Sudhaus, D., Zeller, K.W. (2009) The Chiemgau impact: An extraordinary case study for the question of Holocene meteorite impacts and their cultural implications. – In: Belmonte, J. A. (ed.), Proceedings of the International Conference on Archaeoastronomy, SEAC 16th 2008 “Cosmology across Cultures. Impact of the Study of the Universe in Human Thinking”, Granada September 8-12, 2008, A.S.P. Conf. Ser., 2009.
• Rappenglück, B., Rappenglück, M. (2006) . – Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, 6, no. 3, 101-109. https://www.maajournal.com/index.php/maa/article/view/170/125

Abstracts and Posters, Conferences: LPSC, MetSoc, AGU, PCC

• Rappenglück, M. A., Rappenglück B. (2026) Towards a Methodological Validation of Digital Terrain Models as a Potential Impact Criterion: Requirements, Constraints, and a Roadmap for Empirical Testing. – 57th Lunar & Planetary Science Conference 2026, #1078. https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2026/pdf/1078.pdf
• West, A., Ernstson, K. (2026) Hydrocode modeling of impact craters: Chiemgau low-altitude airburst impact strewn field, Germany. – 57th Lunar & Planetary Science Conference 2026, #1085. https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2026/pdf/1085.pdf
• Ernstson, K., Poßekel, J., West, A. (2026) High-resolution digital terrain models DTM: Rayleigh-Taylor and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities and impact cratering in unhardened loose sediments – the Holocene Chiemgau airburst impact case. – 57th Lunar & Planetary Science Conference 2026, #1084. https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2026/pdf/1084.pdf
• Ernstson, K., Poßekel, J. (2025) High-resolution Digital Terrain Models (DTM): a new approach to impact cratering. – American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting 2025.
• Ernstson, K., Poßekel, J. (2025) Lake Bärnsee in the Chiemgau Holocene impact strewn field (Germany): ice-age tongue basin lake vs. Holocene low-altitude touchdown airburst impact formation. – Meteoritical Society Meeting 2025, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.23872.24323.
• Ernstson, K., Poßekel, J. (2025) Many of a kind: the Digital Terrain Model and a new cluster of larger and smaller craters accumulate the Chiemgau meteorite impact strewn field. – Meteoritical Society Meeting 2025, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.27227.68642.
• Poßekel, J., Ernstson, K. (2025) The Digital Terrain Model: New Insights into the Holocene Lake Tüttensee (Germany) Multiple Impact Structure as Part of the Chiemgau Low Altitude Touchdown Airburst Event. – 56th Lunar & Planetary Science Conference 2025, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.29631.01446.
• Ernstson, K., Poßekel, J. (2024) The Chiemgau Meteorite Impact Strewn Field and the Digital Terrain Model: “Earthquake” Liquefaction from Above and from Below. – American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting 2024, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.11274.79041.
• Ernstson, K., Poßekel, J. (2024) Paradigm Shift in Impact Research: The Holocene Chiemgau Meteorite Impact Crater Strewn Field and the Digital Terrain Model. – Lunar & Planetary Science Conference LPSC 2024, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.33205.90086.
• Ernstson, K., Poßekel, J., Rappenglück, M. A. (2024) Mars and Moon on Earth: Multiple Impact and Oblique Impact Patterns from Digital Terrain Models in the Holocene Chiemgau Crater Strewn Field. – Lunar & Planetary Science Conference LPSC 2024, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.23585.21604.
• Rappenglück, M. A., Poßekel, J., Ernstson, K. (2021) Mars and Moon on Earth: formation of small terraced impact craters and ground-penetrating radar investigations. – 12th Planetary Crater Consortium Meeting 2021.
• Ernstson, K., Poßekel, J. (2020) Digital Terrain Model (DTM) topography of small craters in the Holocene Chiemgau (Germany) meteorite impact strewn field. – Conference 11th Planetary Crater Consortium 2020 (LPI Contrib. No. 2251).
• Poßekel, J., Ernstson, K. (2019) Anatomy of Young Meteorite Craters in a Soft Target (Chiemgau Impact Strewn Field, SE Germany) from Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) Measurements. – 50th Lunar & Planetary Science Conference 2019, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.14155.64802.
• Ernstson, K., Poßekel, J. (2020) Complex Impact Cratering in a Soft Target: Evidence from Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) for Three Structures in the Chiemgau Meteorite Impact Strewn Field, SE Germany (1.3 km-Diameter Eglsee, 250 m-Diameter Riederting, 60 m-Diameter Aiching). – American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting 2020, online, 1-17 Dec., Abstract EP036-0005. https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm20/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/677731
• Bauer, F., Hiltl, M., Rappenglück, M. A., Ernstson, K. (2020) An eight-kilogram chunk and more: evidence for a new class of iron silicide meteorites from the Chiemgau impact strewn field (SE Germany). – Modern Problems of Theoretical, Experimental, and Applied Mineralogy (Yushkin Readings – 7-10 December 2020, Syktyvkar, Russia), Proceedings, 359-360.
• Ernstson, K., Shumilova, T. G. (2020) Chiemite — a high PT carbon impactite from shock coalification/carbonization of impact target vegetation. – Modern Problems of Theoretical, Experimental, and Applied Mineralogy (Yushkin Readings – 7-10 December 2020, Syktyvkar, Russia), Proceedings, 363-365.
• Rappenglück, B., Hiltl, M., Ernstson, K. (2020) Artifact-in-impactite: a new kind of impact rock. Evidence from the Chiemgau meteorite impact in southeast Germany. – Modern Problems of Theoretical, Experimental, and Applied Mineralogy (Yushkin Readings – 7-10 December 2020, Syktyvkar, Russia), Proceedings, 365-367.
• Poßekel, J., Ernstson, K. (2020) Not just a rimmed bowl: Ground penetrating radar (GPR) imagery of small craters in the Holocene Chiemgau (Germany) meteorite impact strewnfield. – 11th Planetary Crater Consortium 2020 (LPI Contrib. 2251), Abstract #2014.
• Ernstson, K., Poßekel, J. (2020) Digital terrain model (DTM) topography of small craters in the Holocene Chiemgau (Germany) meteorite impact strewnfield. – 11th Planetary Crater Consortium 2020 (LPI Contrib. 2251), Abstract #2019.
• Ernstson, K., Poßekel, J., Rappenglück, M. A. (2020) Near-ground airburst cratering: petrographic and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) evidence for a possibly enlarged Chiemgau Impact event (Bavaria, SE-Germany). – 50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Poster, Abstract #1231. Abstract, Poster
• Poßekel, J., Ernstson, K. (2019) Anatomy of Young Meteorite Craters in a Soft Target (Chiemgau Impact Strewn Field, SE Germany) from Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) Measurements. – 50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Abstract #1204, LPI Contrib. 2132. Poster
• F. Bauer, M. Hiltl, M.A. Rappenglück, K. Ernstson (2019): Trigonal and Cubic FE2SI Polymorphs (Hapkeite) in the Eight Kilograms Find of Natural Iron Silicide from Grabenstätt (Chiemgau, Southeast Germany). – 50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Poster, Abstract #1520, LPI Contrib. 2132. Abstract, Poster
• Rappenglück, B., Hiltl, M., Ernstson, K. (2019) Metallic Artifact Remnants in a Shock-Metamorphosed Impact Breccia: an Extended View of the Archeological Excavation at Stöttham (Chiemgau, SE-Germany). – 50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Poster, Abstract #1334, LPI Contrib. 2132. Abstract, Poster
• Ernstson, K., Poßekel, J. (2017) Meteorite Impact „Earthquake“ Features (Rock Liquefaction, Surface Wave Deformations, Seismites) from Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Geoelectric Complex Resistivity/Induced Polarization (IP) Measurements, Chiemgau (Alpine Foreland, Southeast Germany). – American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting 2017, New Orleans, 11-15 Dec. Abstract EP53B-1700.
• Ernstson, K. (2016) Evidence of a meteorite impact-induced tsunami in lake Chiemsee (Southeast Germany) strengthened. – 47th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Abstract.
• Rappenglück, M. A., Bauer, F., Ernstson, K., Hiltl, M. (2014) Meteorite impact on a micrometer scale: iron silicide, carbide and CAI minerals from the Chiemgau impact event (Germany). – Problems and perspectives of modern mineralogy (Yushkin Memorial Seminar–2014), Syktyvkar, Russia.
• Ernstson, K., Hiltl, M., Neumair, A. (2014) Microtektite-Like Glasses from the Northern Calcareous Alps (Southeast Germany): Evidence of a Proximal Impact Ejecta. – 45th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, LPI Contribution No. 1777, p.1200.
• Rappenglück, M.A., Bauer, F., Hiltl, M., Neumair, A., Ernstson, K. (2013) Calcium-Aluminium-rich Inclusions (CAIs) in iron silicide matter (Xifengite, Gupeiite, Hapkeite): evidence of a cosmic origin – 76th Annual Meteoritical Society Meeting, Meteoritics & Planetary Science, Volume 48, Issue s1, Abstract #5055.
• Bauer, F., Hiltl, M., Rappenglück, M.A., Neumair, A., Ernstson, K. (2013) Fe2Si (Hapkeite) from the subsoil in the alpine foreland (Southeast Germany): is it associated with an impact? – 76th Annual Meteoritical Society Meeting, Abstract #5056.
• Neumair, A., Ernstson, K. (2013) Peculiar Holocene soil layers: evidence of possible distal ejecta deposits in the Chiemgau region, Southeast Germany – 76th Annual Meteoritical Society Meeting, Abstract #5057.
• Ernstson, K., Müller, W., Neumair, A. (2013) The proposed Nalbach (Saarland, Germany) impact site: is it a companion to the Chiemgau (Southeast Bavaria, Germany) impact strewn field? – 76th Annual Meteoritical Society Meeting, Abstract #5058.
• Ernstson, K., Shumilova, T. G., Isaenko, S. I., Neumair, A., Rappenglück, M. A. (2013) From biomass to glassy carbon and carbynes: evidence of possible meteorite impact shock coalification and carbonization. – Modern problems of theoretical, experimental and applied mineralogy (Yushkin Memorial Seminar–2013), Syktyvkar.
• Isaenko, S., Shumilova, T., Ernstson, K., Shevchuk, S., Neumair, A., Rappenglück, M. (2012) Carbynes and DLC in naturally occurring carbon matter from the Alpine Foreland, South-East Germany: Evidence of a probable new impactite. – European Mineralogical Conference 2012.
• Rappenglück, B., Ernstson, K., Liritzis, I., Mayer, W., Neumair, A., Rappenglück, M., Sudhaus, D. (2012) A prehistoric meteorite impact in Southeast Bavaria (Germany): tracing its cultural implications. – 34th International Geological Congress, 5-10 August 2012 – Brisbane, Australien.
• Shumilova, T. G., Isaenko S. I., Makeev B. A., Ernstson K., Neumair A., Rappenglück M. A. (2012) Enigmatic Poorly Structured Carbon Substances from the Alpine Foreland, Southeast Germany: Evidence of a Cosmic Relation. 43nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Abstract.
• Ernstson, K. & Neumair, A. (2011) Geoelectric Complex Resistivity Measurements of Soil Liquefaction Features in Quaternary Sediments of the Alpine Foreland, Germany. American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, San Francisco, Calif., 5-9 Dec. Abstract NS23A-1555.
• Rappenglück, M. A., Ernstson, K. (2008) The Chiemgau crater strewn field (Southeast Bavaria, Germany): Evidence of a Holocene large impact event. – International Conference „100 years since Tunguska phenomenon: Past, present and future“. – June 26–28, 2008, Moscow (Russia).
• Ernstson, K., Rappenglück, M. A. (2008) The Chiemgau crater strewnfield: Evidence of a Holocene large impact event in Southeast Bavaria, Germany. – International Scientific Conference „100 Years of the Tunguska Event“. June 30 – July 6, 2008, Krasnoyarsk (Russia).
• Rappenglück, B., Rappenglück, M. A. (2008) The fall of Phaethon: Is this a geomyth reflecting an impact in Bavaria during the Celtic period? – 33rd International Geological Congress. Session: Myth and Geology. – August 5–14, 2008, Oslo (Norway).

By Kord Ernstson

Abstract: The recent impact and its discovery on the Moon prompt a comparison with craters of similar size – about 200 m in diameter – from the Chiemgau impact crater field, which dates back to 900–600 BC. The main difference lies in the differing depths
(43 m on the Moon, 10–15 m in the Chiemgau), which can be explained by a massive projectile on the Moon and a low-energy, low-altitude touchdown airburst impact on Earth.

University of Würzburg, 97070 Würzburg, Germany, kernstson@ernstson.de

The lunar McGetchin crater

This crater formed in 2024 as a result of a significant event in the Moon’s regolith. NASA photo.

The Chiemgau (Germany) impact craters

Craters of identical size from the large elliptical Chiemgau impact region provide an interesting comparison. The craters shown below depict areas of significantly elevated terrain in the extremely high-resolution digital elevation model (DGM 1).
Compared to the lunar crater, they are extremely shallow, which we attribute to their formation during an extensive low-altitude touchdown airburst impact.

The Chiemgau impact Riederting and Bergham craters. The diametral profiles show that they are nearly the same size and shape.

Photos of the Bergham and Riederting craters.

The Manholdung crater near Lake Chiemsee, so far erroneously considered an ice-age end moraine.

The Chiemgau impact craters are also very young and date back to around 900–600 B.C.

This poster provides more detailed information on the Chiemgau airburst touchdown impact.

DGM 1 data: Bayerische Vermessungsverwaltung

contrasting with the “true world” of impact cratering research and publications:

88th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society 2026 (LPI Contrib. No. 3162)  5189.pdf

ABSTRACT and POSTER:

High-resolution digital terrain models, Rayleigh-Taylor/Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities, and hydrocode modeling: evidence of a Holocene low-altitude “touchdown” airburst impact event over Central Europe from the French border to the Czech Republic.

Kord Ernstson, Jens Poßekel and Allen West 

Metsoc 2026. Click for enlarged full PDF Poster.

The Canadian impact database and the Freiburg University impact crater database

In the case of the well-known Canadian Earth Impact Database and the database of the University of Freiburg, where published proven impacts from Spain, Germany and the Czech Republic are simply ignored since decades, the question arises once again, as in the past, where a few members of a university take the incredible liberty to decide and make public what is right or wrong in science. Certainly, it can be meritorious to collect data in such a database (that’s why it’s called that) and make it available to the general public. However, this does not justify any kind of scientific evaluation, which can basically be denied to the databases. Unfortunately, this obviously small database groups under the leaders John Spray (Canada) and Thomas Kenkmann (University of Freiburg), have caused immeasurable damage in impact research. The negative main effect is that questionable up to wrong evaluations of this scientifically by nobody legitimized databases are taken over world-wide with impact publications however, as law into their work, and scientifically questionable statements are handed down by authors and article reviewers.

For the following two databases as well, the number of confirmed impacts comes to about 200. It seems that one database is simply copying data from the other, leaving us in the “early Middle Ages” of impact research. None of this reflects well on the Impact Cratering Committee of the MetSoc, and we wonder what purpose this committee actually serves.

Western University https://impact.uwo.ca/ https://impact.uwo.ca/impact-craters/map/ – 197 currently CONFIRMED impact craters. For heaven’s sake, who took the liberty of approving this selection?

The Barringer Crater Company- Interactive Earth Impact Database. – Quote from the page: “This incredible database of verified impact craters was initiated in 1955 …” Indeed, it’s an incredible impact database! WHO VERIFIED the selection?

The article by G.R. Osinski et al., with just under 200 citations, makes little difference, if any:
Earth-Science Reviews
Volume 232, September 2022, 104112
Impact Earth: A review of the terrestrial impact record.

Prof. Simón and geologists from the University of Zaragoza: Azuara, the Pelarda Fm. ejecta, the Revista de la Sociedad Geológica de España, and the manipulation of science – a commentary article

As we recently announced here, we are now publishing our detailed commentary on the unspeakable article by the geologists from the University of Zaragoza regarding the prominent large impact ejecta deposit at the Azuara structure.
Our article has been published on ResearchGate and can be downloaded as a PDF here.

Abstract. – We comment on a recently published (June 2026) article by geologists from the University of Zaragoza (lead author Prof. José L. Simón) in Spanish, titled (translated) The controversial conglomerate complex of Sierra Pelarda (Central Iberian Mountain Range): clast recycling in a comprehensive morphotectonic-sedimentary model. This article is a continuation of all previous efforts—primarily by geologists at the University of Zaragoza—to ignore or discredit the massive multiple impact event at Azuara-Rubielos de la Cérida, which has been described in extensive literature for decades. In the article by Simón et al., two related articles from 1990 and 1992 (i.e., 30 years old) are mentioned in a single brief sentence, but neither the Azuara impact structure nor the Pelarda Formation—one of the world’s largest and most significant impact ejecta deposits—is mentioned again, not even in the abstract. In recent years, the Pelarda Formation impact ejecta have been mentioned and discussed in greater detail in more than a dozen publications, including papers presented at conferences of the Meteoritical Society, the Lunar & Planetary Science Conference, and the American Geophysical Union. A 60-page article on the Azuara and Rubielos de la Cérida impact was printed and published in 2002 by the Treb. Mus. Geol. Barcelona, featuring a lengthy section on the Pelarda Formation. Extensive papers on the Azuara impact structure, including the Pelarda Formation ejecta, are available on publicly accessible websites and can be downloaded there. The most recent presentation also regarding the Pelarda Formation ejecta took place at the annual meeting of the Meteoritical Society in 2023. The impact-related presentations on the Pelarda Formation generally list the globally recognized geological and mineralogical- petrographic findings and evidence that prove the impact. These include widespread, intense shock effects such as impact melts, diaplectic glasses, planar deformation features (PDF and PF), and typical shock-spallation fractures, which are also described for the rocks of the Pelarda Formation. The abundant polymictic breccias in the diamictitic deposits of the Pelarda Formation—featuring polymictic breccia generations otherwise virtually unknown in “normal” geology—cannot be overlooked. This also applies to megaclasts made of Buntsandstein and Eocene rock, up to 9 m in size, that are intercalated within the Pelarda Formation and are difficult to explain using the model proposed by Simón et al. The fact that geologists do not (or do not wish to) understand impact geology has been discussed extensively, but this does not justify the complete suppression of previous research and its extensive and publicly accessible literature. This serious accusation against the geologists at the university applies in particular to the first author, Prof. Simón, who sets a bad example for his students—who are apparently co- authors—of a scientific practice characterized by manipulation. A serious accusation is also directed at the journal Revista de la Sociedad Geológica de España for publishing this fundamentally unscientific article, as well as at the peer reviewers (assuming a peer review took place at all), who apparently condoned this manipulation of science. In the following commentary, we use examples to demonstrate how the authors undermine and contradict all clear impact evidence in favor of their untenable morphotectonic-sedimentary model of the Pelarda Formation. 

Click the videos!

As far as we know, this is the first hydrocode modeling of  a low-altitude touchdown airburst impact.

Click an ePoster presentation at the 57th Lunar & Planetary Science Conference 2026!

and a critical comment on the Mineralogical Magazine Peer Review

50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 2019 (LPI Contrib. No. 2132) 1520.pdf

Trigonal and cubic Fe2Si polymorphs (hapkeite) in the eight kilograms find of natural iron silicide from Grabenstätt (Chiemgau, Southeast Germany) – authors
Frank Bauer1, Michael Hiltl, Michael A. Rappenglück, Kord Ernstson

We are referring here to the article recently published in the Mineralogical Magazine
by Luca Bindi et al. on the discovery of trigonal hapkeite:

Trigonal Fe2Si from the Blackville site, South Carolina, USA: occurrence, composition and determination of the crystal structure. – Mineralogical Magazine 90(1):1-20.

We point to our post above we published seven years ago at the LPSC 2019 on hapkeite, which occurs within the vast distribution area – spanning several tens of kilometers – of the entire iron silicide family in connection with the Holocene airburst impact event.

In addition, a very comprehensive paper on the impressive iron silicide deposit at the Chiemgau impact site was published in 2023, covering all previous findings and observations regarding the excavated metallic chunks and spherules (not in glass, as the article incorrectly claims), along with extensive SEM, TEM, and EBSD analyses:

A Prominent Iron Silicides Strewn Field and Its Relation to the Bronze Age/Iron Age Chiemgau Meteorite Impact Event (Germany) by Kord Ernstson, Frank Bauer, Michael Hiltl

All of this is omitted by Luca Bindi et al. and addressed only in passing in a single sentence with a citation. The Mineralogical Magazine and the responsible peer reviewers are accused of manipulating science. A quick web search using the term “trigonal hapkeite” would have listed our publications among the top results on Google.

Click the article (translated from the German original)

We present our findings on the Schlitzer Kauten in Hesse, Germany, revealing their complex structure as part of a larger impact feature field formed by a low-altitude touchdown airburst event. Our high-resolution digital terrain model DGM 1 has allowed us to rule out previous interpretations and connect these formations to similar Holocene events in Mid-Europe from the French border to the Czech Republic.

Please note that this article is a computer translation of the original German text and may contain incorrect wording.

Lake Bärnsee impact – Chiemgau impact strewn field – Impact research in the Czech Republic – Lake Tüttensee multiple impact – The Saarland impact and DTM – Viničky 100 km diameter impact structure in Slovakia

Lake Bärnsee in the Chiemgau Holocene impact strewn field (Germany): ice-age tongue basin lake vs. Holocene low-altitude touchdown airburst impact formation

Kord Ernstson and Jens Poßekel

Poster Meteoritical Society Meeting 2025

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Many of a kind: the Digital Terrain Model and a new cluster of larger and smaller craters accumulate the Chiemgau meteorite impact strewn field

Kord Ernstson and Jens Poßekel

Poster Meteoritical Society Meeting 2025

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The current state of impact research in the Czech Republic

Martin Molnár, Karel Ventura, Jens Poßekel and Kord Ernstson

Poster Meteoritical Society Meeting 2025

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The Digital Terrain Model: New Insights into the Holocene Lake Tüttensee (Germany) Multiple Impact Structure as Part of the Chiemgau Low Altitude Touchdown Airburst Event

Jens Poßekel and Kord Ernstson

Poster 56th LPSC Meeting 2025, 2770.pdf

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The new world of impact cratering: the high-resolution digital terrain model and hydrocode modeling -the Saarland (Germany) low altitude touchdown airburst impact event

Kord Ernstson, Werner Müller, Andreas Gawlik-Wagner, Kord Ernstson and Allen West

Poster 56th LPSC Meeting 2025, 1264.pdf

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Viničky: evidence of a 100 km impact structure in Slovakia

Kord Ernstson, Martin Molnár and Pavel Švanda

Poster 56th LPSC Meeting 2025, 1639.pdf

Earth Impact Database

Low-altitude touchdown airburst meteorite impacts

https://lpsc2024.ipostersessions.com/default.aspx?s=40-83-1A-8D-B8-91-6E-54-A4-F3-B3-36-13-85-48-1F&guestview=true

https://lpsc2024.ipostersessions.com/default.aspx?s=D7-F9-72-1A-EB-74-15-15-BC-2B-1B-DC-54-85-E6-C9&guestview=true

American Geophysical Union AGU 2024

https://agu24.ipostersessions.com/default.aspx?s=9A-CA-9A-93-BB-A7-E3-61-4D-5D-BF-6C-A6-A7-58-1D&guestview=true