[aeolis_mons]

This may have contributed to the immiseration and decline of the Jamestown colony, some thirty-five million years later:

"Chesapeake Bay is the remains of a giant meteor crater. The impact shattered rock for miles, letting seawater infiltrate. Few Indian groups lived in the saltwater wedge, presumably for just that reason. Jamestown was bordered and undergirded by bad water. That bad water, the geographer Carville V. Earle argued, led to 'typhoid, dysentery, and perhaps salt poisoning.' By January 1608, eight months after landfall, only thirty-eight [of the original 144] English were left alive."

From Charles Mann's "1493", which is a fantastic read; it's full of satisfying connections between environmental and historical forces like the above.

[gilbetron]

Haven't read 1493 yet, but looking forward to it. Read 1491 about a decade ago and it blew my mind. You just pushed 1493 back up towards the top of my "to read" list :)

I think it was 1491 where I first encountered the idea that red earthworms are invasive and the real reason "great forests" are in decline.