Initial thoughts on Holliday et al.'s 'comprehensive refutation' of the YDIH
Apparently coincident timing of the Greenland platinum signal, which is attributed to a cosmic impact, and the onset of YD cooling, from Petaev et al. (2013). Recently, Holliday et al. published a paper (currently a pre-print) purporting to 'comprehensively refute' the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH). Unsurprisingly, their claims have been greeted enthusiastically by Wikipedia's editors. After reading through the article in some detail (it is very long), it is clear that it is not a refutation at all. In fact, its arguments are weak and most have already been rebutted by earlier YDIH papers. The dictionary definition of 'refute' is to 'disprove' an idea. This has clearly not been achieved by Holliday et al., so their title is immediately misleading. Essentially, the paper is a monument to obfuscation, much like their other work. It re-hashes arguments that have already been rebutted in earlier YDIH papers, and it is chock-full of logical fallacies, w