Previously, a large platinum (Pt) anomaly was reported in the Greenland ice sheet at the Younger Dryas boundary (YDB) (12,800 Cal B.P.). In order to evaluate its geographic extent, fire-assay and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (FA and ICP-MS) elemental analyses were performed on 11 widely separated archaeological bulk sedimentary sequences. We document discovery of a distinct Pt anomaly spread widely across North America and dating to the Younger Dryas (YD) onset. The apparent synchroneity of this widespread YDB Pt anomaly is consistent with Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2) data that indicated atmospheric input of platinum-rich dust. We expect the Pt anomaly to serve as a widely-distributed time marker horizon (datum) for identification and correlation of the onset of the YD climatic episode at 12,800 Cal B.P. This Pt datum will facilitate the dating and correlating of archaeological, paleontological, and paleoenvironmental data between sequences, especially those with limited age control.

, the 12,800-year-old Younger Dryas boundary layer (YDB) contains peak abundances in meltglass, nanodiamonds, microspherules, and charcoal. AH meltglass comprises 1.6 wt.% of bulk sediment, and crossed polarizers indicate that the meltglass is isotropic. High YDB concentrations of iridium, platinum, nickel, and cobalt suggest mixing of melted local sediment with small quantities of meteoritic material. Approximately 40% of AH glass display carbon-infused, siliceous plant imprints that laboratory experiments show formed at a minimum of 1200°-1300 °C; however, reflectance-inferred temperatures for the encapsulated carbon were lower by up to 1000 °C. Alternately, melted grains of quartz, chromferide, and magnetite in AH glass suggest exposure to minimum temperatures of 1720 °C ranging to >2200 °C. This argues against formation of AH meltglass in thatched hut fires at 1100°-1200 °C, and low values of remanent magnetism indicate the meltglass was not created by lightning. Low meltglass water content (0.02-0.05% H 2 O) is consistent with a formation process similar to that of tektites and inconsistent with volcanism and anthropogenesis. The wide range of evidence supports the hypothesis that a cosmic event occurred at Abu Hureyra ~12,800 years ago, coeval with impacts that deposited high-temperature meltglass, melted microspherules, and/or platinum at other YDB sites on four continents. Firestone et al. 1 first proposed that a cosmic impact event occurred ~12,800 years ago 1,2 , resulting in multi-continental airbursts, possibly caused by the debris stream from a short-period comet 1,3,4. This event is proposed to have created the Younger Dryas boundary layer (YDB), which contains peak abundances of magnetic spherules 1,5-11 , meltglass 7,8 , carbon spherules 1,12 , glasslike carbon 1,12 , charcoal 13,14 , platinum 15-18 , iridium 17,18 , nickel 19 cobalt 19 , and/or nanodiamonds 12,20-22 at ~40 sites across North America and Europe, including from Abu Hureyra, Syria (Appendix, Fig. S1). In this paper, the term "airburst/impact" refers to a collision of a cosmic body

Graphene Oxide (GO) was chemically synthesized from Natural Flake Graphite (NFG). The GO was chemically reduced to Reduced Graphene Oxide (RGO) using hydrazine monohydrate. Thin films of GO and RGO were also deposited on sodalime glass substrate using spray pyrolysis technique (SPT). The samples were characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with Energy Dispersive X-Ray (EDS) facility attached to it, UV-Visible Spectrometry and Four-Point probe. The FTIR spectra showed the addition of oxygen functionality groups in GO while such groups was drastically reduced in RGO. SEM micrograph of GO thin film showed a porous sponge-like structure while the micrograph of RGO thin film showed evenly distributed and well connected graphene structure. The EDX spectrum of RGO showed that there was decrease in oxygen content and increase in carbon content of RGO when compared to GO. The optical analysis of the GO and RGO thin films gave a direct energy bandgap of 2.7 eV and 2.2 eV respectively. The value of sheet resistance of GO and RGO films was determined to be 22.9 × 10 6 Ω/sq and 4.95 × 10 6 Ω/sq respectively.

We present evidence that in ~ 1650 BCE (~ 3600 years ago), a cosmic airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, a Middle-Bronze-Age city in the southern Jordan Valley northeast of the Dead Sea. The proposed airburst was larger than the 1908 explosion over Tunguska, Russia, where a ~ 50-m-wide bolide detonated with ~ 1000× more energy than the Hiroshima atomic bomb. A city-wide ~ 1.5-m-thick carbon-and-ash-rich destruction layer contains peak concentrations of shocked quartz (~ 5–10 GPa); melted pottery and mudbricks; diamond-like carbon; soot; Fe- and Si-rich spherules; CaCO3 spherules from melted plaster; and melted platinum, iridium, nickel, gold, silver, zircon, chromite, and quartz. Heating experiments indicate temperatures exceeded 2000 °C. Amid city-side devastation, the airburst demolished 12+ m of the 4-to-5-story palace complex and the massive 4-m-thick mudbrick rampart, while causing extreme disarticulation and skeletal fragmentation in nearby humans. An airburst-related influx of salt (~ 4 wt.%) produced hypersalinity, inhibited agriculture, and caused a ~ 300–600-year-long abandonment of ~ 120 regional settlements within a > 25-km radius. Tall el-Hammam may be the second oldest city/town destroyed by a cosmic airburst/impact, after Abu Hureyra, Syria, and possibly the earliest site with an oral tradition that was written down (Genesis). Tunguska-scale airbursts can devastate entire cities/regions and thus, pose a severe modern-day hazard.

We report on improved electrical properties and thermal stability of ZrB 2 Schottky contacts deposited on n-type 4H-SiC at temperatures between 20°C and 800°C. The Schottky barrier heights (SBHs) determined by current-voltage measurements increased with deposition temperature, from 0.87 eV for contacts deposited at 20°C to 1.07 eV for those deposited at 600°C. The Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) spectra of these contacts revealed a decrease in oxygen peak with an increase in the deposition temperature and showed no reaction at the ZrB 2 /SiC interface. These results indicate improved electrical and thermal properties of ZrB 2 /SiC Schottky contacts, making them attractive for high-temperature applications.