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Arizona Meteorite Crater Mystery Solved
AP via Yahoo ^ | 3/9/05

Posted on 03/09/2005 10:19:19 AM PST by ZGuy

It's a mystery that has puzzled scientists for years but researchers said Wednesday they have discovered why there isn't much melted rock at the famous Meteor Crater in northern Arizona.

An iron meteorite traveling up to 12 miles per second was thought to have blasted out the huge hole measuring three-quarters of a mile across in the desert.

The impact of an object at that speed should have left large volumes of melted rock at the site. But British and American scientists said the reason it didn't was because the meteorite was traveling slower than previously estimated.

"We conclude that the fragmented iron projectile probably struck the surface at a velocity of about 12 km (7.5 miles) (per second)," said Professor H. Jay Melosh, of the University of Arizona, in a report in the science journal Nature.

Meteor Crater, which was formed about 50,000 years ago, was the first terrestrial crater identified as a meteorite impact scar.

Melosh and Gareth Collins, of Imperial College London, used a simple model to calculate the speed on impact. They showed the meteorite had slowed when it hit the Earth's atmosphere and broke into fragments before it struck the Earth.

They calculated the impact velocity was about 26,800 miles per hour.

"Even though iron is very strong, the meteorite had probably been cracked from collisions in space," Melosh said in a statement.

"The weakened pieces began to come apart and shower down from about 8.5 miles high. As they came apart, atmospheric drag slowed them down, increasing the forces that crushed them so that they crumbled and slowed more," he added.

The scientists said that at about 3 miles altitude, most of the meteorite was spread in a large cloud.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Arizona
KEYWORDS: archaeology; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; history; theskyisfalling
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To: blam

What really happened is that those prehistoric men were actually much smarter than we thought and were playing around with antimatter...


121 posted on 04/16/2005 10:17:11 PM PDT by WestVirginiaRebel (Carnac: A siren, a baby and a liberal. Answer: Name three things that whine.)
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To: newgeezer
It's a matter of faith. Good luck getting them to admit it, though.

Please stop repeating lies.

122 posted on 04/16/2005 10:21:47 PM PDT by Ichneumon
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To: Larry Lucido
So, instead of getting hit by a slug, the earth was struck by buckshot in a tight pattern. Would that explain the lack of metallic residue at the site? Pieces bounced off every which way?

There is not a "lack" of "metallic residue", just less than would be produced by a single large meteoritic impact, and of a different type than would be produced by a faster impact.

There's still plenty of iron from the meteor all over the place, though -- the plain around the crater is littered with it and people have been collecting pieces for over a century, but there's still a lot left.

123 posted on 04/16/2005 10:27:53 PM PDT by Ichneumon
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To: LadyPilgrim
I just think that the explanations given on this are very laughable and don't make a lot of sense.

To you.

Some folks here on FR could probably come up with a better explanation than this study! LOL!!!

Go for it. Make sure it matches all the observations and evidence in and around the crater to a high degree, as well as is consistent with all the known laws of physics -- like this one is.

124 posted on 04/16/2005 10:29:17 PM PDT by Ichneumon
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To: blam
how many humans were killed in this impact?

Anybody who was close enough to see the fireball. They have drilled looking for the main body of the meteorite, but there is apparently no main body. The energy of a kinetic impact like this is underrated. It could vaporize the meteorite and create a lot of ionization of the resulting gas. The flash of impact would be like a nuclear explosion.

125 posted on 04/16/2005 10:33:17 PM PDT by RightWhale (50 trillion sovereign cells working together in relative harmony)
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To: ZGuy
Does anyone know why the crater is much closer to being square than round?

Look carefully at the pictures and you will see this.

126 posted on 04/16/2005 10:36:16 PM PDT by CurlyDave
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To: TalonDJ
...except that I have had geologists explain the flaws in geologic dating to me before.

No you haven't.

Any date is an article amounts to the personal wilda$$ guess of the first scientist they talked to and is subject to being changed with every additional person asked.

Wow, this is such a load of complete horse manure. You really don't have any idea how such dating is actually done, so you just make up whatever pops into your head about how it "must" happen, eh?

What annoys me is not that I have some pre assumed age of the earth and reject all else out of hand. What annoys me is that articles always toss out a date like that as a proven fact when it is simply and vague estimate based on whichever model (of many to chose from) the leading researcher on that site decided to use.

Posting your fantasies about the process again, eh?

I always laugh when someone tries pretend dates articles toss out are actually well proven and that questioning them is some how a sign of ignorance or delusion.

Proverbs 29:9: "If a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet."

Complete BS. The dating for this was probably done in several ways with widely different results and they simply averaged them or picked the one they 'thought was most reliable' (liked best).

At least this time you finally slipped and used a word ("probably") that clearly indicated that this *is* just your fantasy, and not based on any actual knowledge...

Before you attempt to critique something, make sure you actually have working knowledge of it first.

127 posted on 04/16/2005 10:37:14 PM PDT by Ichneumon
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To: CurlyDave
why the crater is much closer to being square than round

Craters are 'supposed' to be round, which is why Hoagland sees inner Buksminster Fuller structure in Iapetus. If a crater has straight sides, it must be something in the underlying terrain that gives preferential direction to the excavation. Fault lines would do it.

128 posted on 04/16/2005 10:40:20 PM PDT by RightWhale (50 trillion sovereign cells working together in relative harmony)
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To: RightWhale
Here's a great little photo-journal of the crator.
129 posted on 04/16/2005 10:40:44 PM PDT by Caipirabob (Democrats.. Socialists..Commies..Traitors...Who can tell the difference?)
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To: McGruff

NO! Its the results of John Kerry's election campaign;-)


130 posted on 04/16/2005 10:42:11 PM PDT by Always Independent
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To: tx_eggman
I seriously doubt that a single mind out there has been changed by the constant braying that invariably accompanies both sides of this subject matter.

I've been proposing for some time now that JR create a Science forum.
That might cut down on some of the repeat nastiness every time any science is posted.
I doubt if the science folks go to the supernaturalist forum to spread venom.
I wonder if the opposite would be true if there were the two distinct forums?

131 posted on 04/16/2005 10:53:26 PM PDT by ASA Vet (FR needs a Science Forum.)
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To: RightWhale
I agree that craters are "supposed" to be round.

I am not as ready to accept that the meteor landed right smack dab in the middle of a set of fault lines laid out on a checkerboard square pattern.

One fault line which would produce a distorted circle, or two parallel ones which would produce a distorted oval I could accept, but the symmetry of the square pattern is very great. A hit somewhere other than in the middle of a square (very, very rare) geologic formation would be expected to produce a crater of a different shape.

I can not think of any other square geologic formations on that scale anywhere on earth--can anyone else?

132 posted on 04/16/2005 10:55:33 PM PDT by CurlyDave
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To: OXENinFLA

That's no crater, man. That originally was going to be our professional football stadium, but they would have to move the whole city of Glendale out there, so we finally decided to build on closer to town.


133 posted on 04/16/2005 10:58:19 PM PDT by righttackle44
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets
Google Maps satellite image:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Meteor+Crater,AZ&ll=35.021238,-111.026974&sll=35.160780,-110.511382&spn=0.062227,0.079393&sspn=0.124454,0.158787&t=k&hl=en

134 posted on 04/16/2005 11:01:31 PM PDT by Reeses (What a person sees is mostly behind their eyeballs rather than in front.)
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To: CurlyDave

It might be that on the scale of the excavation there are many fault lines of approximately the same period, and they would run in the direction of crustal movement as well as perpendicular. Small craters tend to be round. Big craters would depend on the nature of the underlying structure. The earth's crust need not be uniform in all directions.


135 posted on 04/16/2005 11:02:29 PM PDT by RightWhale (50 trillion sovereign cells working together in relative harmony)
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To: DannyTN

They think it's about 50,000 years old,give or take 50,000 year.


136 posted on 04/16/2005 11:05:39 PM PDT by rdcorso (The Democratic Party Has Become An Abomination)
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To: Reeses

Kewl, thanks!


137 posted on 04/17/2005 4:27:13 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Deadcheck the embeds first.)
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To: DannyTN

They make these dates up, IMO.


138 posted on 04/17/2005 7:11:08 AM PDT by BenLurkin (O beautiful for patriot dream - that sees beyond the years)
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To: ZGuy

The crater is an obvious phony.

Why would it land EXACTLY at the end of that road, huh? answer that one smart guy !!!!


139 posted on 04/17/2005 11:44:10 AM PDT by beebuster2000
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To: ctdonath2

It's between Flagstaff and Winslow, AZ. Get in touch with the tourist Dept first - there's a lot of things to do/see in No. AZ including flyfishing for native trout or skiing, depending on the season you go.


140 posted on 04/17/2005 12:57:16 PM PDT by momf ( (Amnesty for ILLEGALS scorns the American citizens both native born and naturalized)
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