Lake Michigan - First Huristic Try
Lake Michigan is no longer under consieration by us as a source impact crater for the Carolina bay ejecta. We continue to leverage the "first pass" Coriolis bearing triangulation, but are now investingating a location which represents a 22 minute loft time (5.5 degrees eastward) vs the 12 minute offset we used to implicate Lake Michigan. To review our current proposed impact location, please reference the Saginaw Bay section of the discussion.
First Pass Coriolis bearing triangulation
Explanation of Lake Michigan's Glacial Morphology
It is quite appropriate to note that Lake Michigan has provenance as a glacially-carved companion to lakes Huron and Erie, as they both exist on the circumference of the Michigan Basin. That subsidence is centered below Michigan’s land mass proper, not below the Lake. The Michigan basin is a simple ( although “poorly understood” -USGS) geological depression in the earth’s crust, which dragged down the overlying Cambrian, Ordovician and Silurian sedimentary strata (originally laid down horizontally). The circular custeas which ring the basin have sucesfully guided the flowing ice sheets around it, as seen by Lake Michigan's, Lake Hurons' and Lake Erie's sculpting arcs. The only area which the custeau was breached was in the Saginaw Bay.Difficulties with attempting to cast Lake Michigan as an impact structure include, among other things: the current understanding of glacial ice sheet retreat has removed most of its bulk from above Lake Michigan prior to our YDB 12.9 kya timeline; older carbon dating of moraines in south of Lake Michigan suggest a geometric shape of the current Lake Michigan southern bowl; the depth of the crater is only 10% of what could reasonably be expected - even considering a 2k ice sheet cover.
Given the highly unlikely eventual proof of Lake Michigan as the causal impact site, our heuristic hunt continues. We are drawn to a site several degrees to the east of the Lake Michigan area: The Saginaw Bay.