Thread by @MarkBoslough

Independent scientists have identified many problems with the controversial Sodom & Gomorrah paper #TEHburst by Bunch et al (2021), not least of which is the digital image tampering now called #pebblegate, which the Comet Research Group (CRG) has partially acknowledged.

Other problems: 1) Samples may have been collected by inexperienced amateur volunteers, 2) Sponsoring orgs explicitly reject the scientific method, 3) Contamination problems have been identified in the group’s laboratory, and 4) Ongoing lack of transparency plagues the CRG.

Before addressing these four problems, I will highlight three key members of the Bunch et al (2021) Sodom & Gomorrah team: Steven Collins (@DrStevenCollins), Phillip Silvia (@TeHEP_TSU), and Allen West (his Comet Research Group spokesman on Twitter is @CosmicTusk).

The Tall El-Hammam Excavation Director #TeHEP is Steven Collins @DrStevenCollins of Trinity Southwest University & the Comet Research Group (CRG). He appears to have been a major contributor to Bunch et al, but is not an author. His name is only listed in the acknowledgements.

Phillip Silvia @TeHEP_TSU is #TeHEP supervisor & director of scientific analysis. He's coauthor of Bunch et al (2021) & lists his affiliation as Trinity Southwest University. He's also a member of the Comet Research Group (CRG). He's listed as the author to contact for sediment.

Allen West is a mystery. I've never seen his CV so don't know what his PhD is in. He has no web footprint or publications before 2003. His role has been to receive samples, prepare them, & distribute them for analysis. His affiliation is CRG, which he founded & directs.

I will go through each of these identified problems with the Bunch et al (2021) Sodom & Gomorrah paper:
1) Inexperienced amateur volunteers
2) Rejection of the scientific method
3) Contamination problems in sample lab
4) Lack of transparency by authors

1) Samples may have been collected by inexperienced amateur volunteers. Bunch discussed Tell El-Hammam Excavation Project #TeHEP project at length. The first 7 citations in the introduction are non-peer-reviewed TeHEP reports by Collins, Silvia & others that must be purchased.

#TeHEP volunteers are told that Tall El-Hammam is Sodom. They're given a crash course on how to use tools them “collect and document both pottery and objects within their excavation square.” The ultimate goal is to train them to be “square supervisor." tallelhammam.com

2) Sponsoring orgs explicitly reject the scientific method. The mission of Trinity Southwest U, which operates the #TeHEP excavation project, is “to uphold the divine authority of the Bible as God’s only inspired representation of reality to humankind” trinitysouthwest.com/about-tsu/

Amateur volunteers for #TeHEP are recruited to dig with the understanding that they are there to “help us prove the veracity of the Bible.” There is no requirement that they have any training in science or the scientific method. gofundme.com/f/tall-elhamma…

It's not clear what volunteers are expected to do when they are confronted with a situation in which the scientific evidence contradicts what they have been taught about the divine authority & veracity of the Bible, but the mission of their sponsors is to uphold the latter.

The mission statement of the Comet Research Group is to prove that “Killer comets are more common that you've been taught.” This mission statement is also a rejection of the scientific method, which is for testing hypotheses, not for proving a priori claims.

3) Contamination problems have been identified in the group’s laboratory. Carbon spherules that the #YDBS has claimed come from the Younger Dryas boundary and contain impact diamonds have been shown to be modern (about 200 years old). pnas.org/content/110/18…

Hex diamonds also appeared in ice collected from Greenland 12 years ago but their presence has never been found in ice that hasn’t been processed in the group’s lab. Likewise, many of the other “impact markers” only show up in samples from the group’s lab. arizona.pure.elsevier.com/en/publication…

4) Ongoing lack of transparency. Repeated requests for samples have been denied to scientists who are skeptical of the group’s hypothesis. Requests for original copies (with metadata) of photographs in the Bunch et al (2021) paper have been ignored. pubpeer.com/publications/3…

The best way for scientists to get to the bottom of the claims made by this group, whether they involve the Younger Dryas boundary strike #YDBS hypothesis or the Sodom & Gomorrah airburst hypothesis #TEHburst, is to write to corresponding authors to request raw data and samples.

Allen West ([e-mail] & [e-mail]) is Bunch's corresponding author. Lead author Ted Bunch ([e-mail]) is corresponding author on some #YDBS papers.
Contact #TeHEP leader Phillip Silvia ([e-mail]) for unprocessed sediment samples.

Please don’t contact them unless you are a scientist in a related field and have actual plans to analyze or use the requested materials for research purposes. Please let us know if your request is refused or ignored.

Part II of "who is Allen West?"

https://twitter.com/MarkBoslough/status/1445230348971876353?s=20