About the Authors

Christopher R. Moore

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

moorecr@mailbox.sc.edu

Affiliations South Carolina Institute for Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Heritage Trust Program; Land, Water, and Conservation Division, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America

Vladimir A. Tselmovich

Roles Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Borok Geophysical Observatory of Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Federation

Malcolm A. LeCompte

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Center of Excellence in Remote Sensing Education and Research, Elizabeth City State University, Elizabeth City, North Carolina, United States of America

Allen West

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Comet Research Group, Prescott, Arizona, United States of America

Stephen J. Culver

Roles Investigation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Earth, Environment and Planning, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, United States of America

David J. Mallinson

Roles Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Earth, Environment and Planning, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, United States of America

Mohammed Baalousha

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Center for Environmental Nanoscience and Risk (CENR), Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, United States of America

James P. Kennett

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Earth Science and Marine Science Institute, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America

William M. Napier

Roles Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, College Hill, Armagh, Northern Ireland

Michael Bizimis

Roles Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation School of Earth, Ocean and Environment, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America

Victor Adedeji

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft

Affiliation Department of Natural Sciences, Elizabeth City State University, Elizabeth City, North Carolina, United States of America

Seth R. Sutton

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation

Affiliation Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin – Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America

Gunther Kletetschka

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, United States of America, Institute of Hydrogeology, Engineering Geology and Applied Geophysics, Charles University, Prague, Czechia

Kurt A. Langworthy

Roles Formal analysis, Methodology

Affiliation Center for Advanced Materials Characterization in Oregon, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America

Jesus P. Perez

Roles Formal analysis, Methodology

Affiliation Electron Microscopy and Surface Analysis Lab, Nanofab, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America

Timothy Witwer

Roles Investigation

Affiliation Comet Research Group, Prescott, Arizona, United States of America

Marc D. Young

Roles Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University, South Australia

Mahbub Alam

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation

Affiliation Center for Environmental Nanoscience and Risk (CENR), Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, United States of America

Jordan Jeffreys

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation

Affiliation School of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America

Richard C. Greenwood

Roles Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – original draft

Affiliation Planetary and Space Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom

James A. Malley

Roles Formal analysis

Affiliation Planetary and Space Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom

Competing Interests

The Comet Research Group (CRG), a 501(C) (3) nonprofit charitable organization, provided research funding. J.P.K., M.A.L., C.R.M., and A.W. volunteer their time as co-founders and directors of CRG. No co-author receives a salary, compensation, stock, or any other financial benefit from CRG, except for tax deductions for CRG donations by co-authors A.W., M.A.L., and T.W. All co-authors may receive reimbursements from their respective organizations for attending symposia on the research presented in this paper. A.W. is a co-author of a book related to the YDIH; he donates all proceeds to the non-profit Comet Research Group. The authors declare no other competing interests. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.