THE MAIN EVENT

See the encounter unfold.

Watch the comet approach, strike Earth and reshape the planet in the authors’ account. Then follow the complete story in the book.

THE ARRIVING COMET

Scene 1from the book

Book sequence

Earth rotation & tiltOrbit normal Spin axisAntarctica 0%Greenland 0%Arctic Ocean 0%

Preparing the comet and the connected terrain…

Preparing the impact view…

Book sequence · published terrain retimed for illustrationDrag to explore · pause at any moment

FOLLOW THE SEQUENCE

An intact world.
An arriving comet.

Begin with the approaching body, then follow its outer mantle and coherent core into the book’s account of contact and aftermath.

Chapter Two · The Impact Scenario ↗

Play the Pangaea breakup and Great Bend route ↗

Snow and iceLand-wave guideEmphasize opening basins

TRAVEL WITH THE ICE

From comet to ground.

Camera journey

Comet approach & core contact

The guided camera follows the fragments, returns to the core at contact, then visits the Arctic pack. A metre-scale study shows the same ice sheets colliding, fracturing and rafting before the journey returns to the dated modern ice reference. Drag in the close-up to inspect the fragments.

The ending is a separate modern comparison: Antarctic and Greenland land ice, plus floating sea-ice extent at both poles.

Sea-ice extent · September 2026 · NSIDC

Dated ice reference & source details ↗

FROM COMET TO GROUND

Follow the frozen mantle.

Earth turns beneath the frozen streams. The entry angle shapes their illustrated fan and arrival timing.

Show delivery paths

The book supplies the global frozen-fallout narrative and Greenland carrying its ice. The regional routes remain an illustration on mapped water. The local study uses first-year sea-ice dimensions, collisions, breakable connections, gravity and approximate buoyancy. The rigid fragments keep their original bulk volumes and recorded motion. Local thickness, drift and breaking strength are representative choices; they are not calculated from the comet trial or specified by the book. This study does not model freezing, ocean circulation or the origin of modern ice. Fine chipping and snow relief are illustrative surface details, not measurements supplied by the book. The closing observed extent is a separate modern reference.

Arctic Ocean · awaiting the receiving water stage.

Mantle shedding in the book ↗
Antarctica & Greenland inventory ↗
Arctic route references & assumptions ↗
Sea-ice deformation background · NSIDC ↗
Local collision data & assumptions ↗

EARTH IN MOTION

Watch the planet turn.

Show Earth rotatingAxis responseShow axis and orbital referenceDisplay seconds per turn 40 s

The book’s little/no starting tilt and final ~23.5° guide the illustration. The impulse view shows the unamplified calculation.

Read the book’s starting world & tilt ↗

Earth relief exaggeration 12×

The book supplies the event order. Published ancient and modern terrain provides comparison geography.

Sources and scope

Scotese & Wright’s PALEOMAP elevation fields form the connected surface. Between source maps, a derived display correspondence moves and blends terrain features.

The geological atlas is retimed for this book illustration. It does not establish the book’s proposed recent date or calculate how an impact creates the mapped continents and ocean floor.

Mass, energy and direct spin use the stated trial settings. Ice placement, temporary deformation, camera motion and terrain travel remain illustrative. White cover changes appearance only; it adds no ice height or calculated mass to the source terrain.

The book supplies the little/no starting tilt and ~23.5° narrative endpoint. The drawing’s tilt direction, contact phase and motion timing are authored. The impulse calculation assumes a fixed Earth inertia and an 86,164.1-second starting day; that ancient day length is not specified by the book. The cyan ring indicates an orbital-plane reference, not a recovered orbit.

The book’s before-and-after argument · D-11 ↗
Terrain sources and display method ↗
Native rotations, ice references and assumptions ↗

Terrain: Scotese & Wright (2018), v2. Regional paths: Christopher R. Scotese, PALEOMAP Global Plate Model (2016), PaleoAtlas v3. Both distributed under CC BY 4.0. Modern ice references: NOAA ETOPO1 Ice Surface and Bedrock.

Speed LoopLoading the sequence

Next · Explore the Book in 3D → Get the Book →

Presentation time follows the book’s event order. The terrain’s geological source ages are comparison references, not the date of the proposed encounter.

EXPLORE THE TRIAL

Change the comet.
Follow the response.

Compare core mass, entry speed and angle. Apply a trial while paused to inspect the same moment with new assumptions.

Open the material ledger ↗Full response laboratory ↗

Whole-body diameter km Bulk density kg/m³ Incoming speed km/s Core share % of body mass Retained mantle % Core : mantle density ratio Entry above horizontal degrees Incoming bearing degrees Spin momentum transfer % Starting axial tilt degrees

The core share, retention and density contrast are trial assumptions.

Coherent coreCalculating…

Retained mantle inventoryCalculating…

Core energyCalculating…

Terrain display responseCalculating…

Direct spin calculationCalculating…

Energy scales an authored terrain schedule. It does not independently predict the mapped endpoint; a weak trial can retain an earlier comparison geography.

KEEP THE SOURCES IN VIEW