Arizona Crater is a unique meteorite crater in Arizona. meteorite craters on earth

It is a giant earthen bowl with a diameter of 1200 meters and a depth of 180 meters. The crater arose about 50 thousand years ago after the fall of a 50-meter meteorite weighing 300 thousand tons and flying at a speed of 45-60 thousand km / h. The explosion from the fall was three times more powerful than the explosion Tunguska meteorite and was similar in power to the explosion of 20 million tons of trinitrotoluene or 1000 atomic bombs similar to the one dropped on Hiroshima. Fragments of meteoric nickel iron have been found inside and around Arizona Crater.

After the Grand Canyon, we spent the night in a cozy family hotel, in the morning the owners prepared excellent coffee and breakfast ... we looked at the map and realized that on the way of our route to Monument Valley there is a meteorite crater that we cannot miss ...

After off-road at the Canyon, our Dodge got a little dirty)

And here we are ... At the crater there is a museum with fragments and all sorts of NASA gadgets

A winding road through the desert leads to the crater

The Arizona crater was recognized as the only place on Earth most reminiscent of the lunar landscape, and it was there, under the leadership of Shoemaker, that all the astronauts who were to go to the moon received part of the training. And it was in this crater that the shortcomings of spacesuits were identified and eliminated, in which the first earthlings had to leave their mark on the moon.

The location of the crater has long been known to the local Indians, who used metal fragments of the meteorite for their own purposes. The local tribes had great amount legends and legends associated with this sacred place. Scientists have known about the existence of the crater only since 1891.

View of the crater from space

Until the beginning of the 20th century, it was believed that this crater was of volcanic origin, and only in 1902, a mining engineer from Philadelphia, Daniel Moreau Barringer, hypothesized that this giant funnel was formed as a result of a meteorite impact. He purchased a piece of land where the crater is located, and quickly began drilling its bottom, as he was convinced that he would find the meteorite itself. Barringer spent 26 years of his life looking for a meteorite and trying to convince others that his crater is of extraterrestrial meteorite origin.

Drilling was useless, and could not be otherwise. Estimates by scientists, which may have caused Barringer's fatal heart attack, showed that the meteorite should have almost completely evaporated in the atmosphere and on impact with the Earth. During his lifetime, Barringer failed to unequivocally prove to the scientific community and the nature of the origin of the crater.

His merit was not recognized until thirty years later, when convincing evidence that the crater in Arizona was the result of a meteorite impact was presented by Eugene Shoemaker, one of the world's foremost experts on comets and meteorites.

It is impossible not to mention the museum, which stands literally on the edge of the crater and stores photographs of all the "lunar" astronauts in full space attire. If you do not know that these pictures were taken literally a stone's throw from where you are standing, then you can believe that they are of lunar origin. Arizona Crater is one of the landmarks of the state of Arizona. It is visited by many tourists every day. To attract tourists, local residents regularly report numerous sightings of airglows and UFO hovering over this place, as well as mysterious geomagnetic anomalies inside the crater.
The sale of meteorites found in this crater (or passed off as them) is thriving and is quite profitable business. The cost of such meteorites in online stores is on average $ 1 for each gram of weight.

This is just the place of drilling in the center of the crater, next to the flag, pay attention to the spacesuit, it is really human-sized.

The meteorite crater in Arizona, often named Barringer Crater after its discoverer, is by no means the largest on Earth. In Antarctica, on Wilkes Land, a meteorite crater about 500 kilometers in diameter was discovered under a kilometer of ice in 1962. In Canada, on the coast of the Hudson Bay there is a crater with a diameter of 443 kilometers. However, unlike the largest, whose diameter is measured in hundreds of kilometers, the Arizona crater is the only one that has retained its almost original appearance. According to the museum's official booklet, "although there are larger impact marks on Earth, this crater was the first to be proven of meteoric origin and is the best preserved of its original appearance."

Along this path, scientists descended to the bottom

From a helicopter

We had lunch at Subway, the only one on the territory, and drove towards Monument Valley.

Here we slowed down to take a picture of the landscapes, a plump Indian who called himself Lorenzo of Arabia drove up to us. He told us where and how to get there, advised us where to spend the night ... he told us that the Americans do not like the Indians, that they are complete merchants without a conscience ... The person pronounces Russian words perfectly. We talked and went to look for where to spend the night before the trip to the Valley.

Origin of the crater

The crater arose about 50 thousand years ago after the fall of a 60-80 meter meteorite weighing 300 thousand tons and flying at a speed of 45-60 thousand km / h. The explosion from the fall was three times more powerful than the explosion and was similar in power to the explosion of 20 million tons or 1000 atomic bombs, similar to those dropped on. Fragments of meteoric nickel iron have been found inside and around Arizona Crater.

History of discovery and research

The location of the crater has long been known to the local Indians, who used metal fragments of the meteorite for their own purposes. The local tribes have a huge number of legends and legends associated with this sacred place. Scientists about the existence of the crater became known only a year ago.

Cosmonaut training in the crater

The Arizona crater was recognized as the only place on Earth most reminiscent of the lunar landscape, and it was there, under the leadership of Shoemaker, that all the astronauts who were to go to the moon received part of the training. And it was in this crater that the shortcomings of spacesuits were identified and eliminated, in which the first earthlings had to leave their mark on the moon.

Tourism

It is impossible not to mention the museum, which stands literally on the edge of the crater and stores photographs of all the "lunar" astronauts in full space attire. If you do not know that these pictures were taken literally a stone's throw from where you are standing, then you can believe that they are of lunar origin. Arizona Crater is one of the attractions. It is visited by many tourists every day. To attract tourists, locals regularly report numerous sightings of airglows and hovering over this site, as well as mysterious geomagnetic anomalies inside the crater.

The sale of meteorites found in this crater (or passed off as them) is thriving and is quite a profitable business. The cost of such meteorites in online stores is on average $ 1 for each gram of weight.

Comparison with other Earth meteorite craters

The meteorite crater in Arizona, often named Barringer Crater after its discoverer, is by no means the largest on Earth. A meteorite crater 241 kilometers in diameter and 800 meters deep was discovered on Wilkes Island. In Canada, on the coast of the Hudson Bay there is a crater with a diameter of 443 kilometers. However, unlike the largest, whose diameter is measured in hundreds of kilometers, the Arizona crater is the only one that has retained its almost original appearance. As the museum's official booklet proudly states, "Although there are larger impact marks on Earth, this crater was the first to be proven of meteoric origin and is the best preserved of its original appearance."

Arizona crater(English) Meteor Crater, Barringer Crater Barringer Crater), Devil's Canyon (eng. Canyon Diablo Crater) - a large meteorite crater (astroblem) in Arizona (USA), 30 km west of the city of Winslow (Winslow) and 69 km east of the city of Flagstaff (federal highway 40, exit 233). It is a giant earthen bowl with a diameter of 1219 meters, a depth of 229 meters, and the edge of the crater rises 46 meters above the plain. This well-preserved crater is one of the most famous craters on Earth and is often featured in science documentaries such as Discovery and the BBC.

The crater arose about 50 thousand years ago after the fall of a 50-meter meteorite weighing 300 thousand tons and flying at a speed of 45-60 thousand km / h. The explosion from the fall was three times more powerful than the explosion of the Tunguska meteorite and was similar in power to the explosion of 150 million tons of trinitrotoluene or 8000 atomic bombs similar to that dropped on Hiroshima. Fragments of meteoric nickel iron have been found inside and around Arizona Crater.

History of discovery and research

The location of the crater has long been known to the local Indians, who used metal fragments of the meteorite for their own purposes. The local tribes have a huge number of legends and legends associated with this sacred place. Scientists have known about the existence of the crater only since 1891.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, it was believed that this crater was of volcanic origin, and only in 1902, a mining engineer from Philadelphia, Daniel Moreau Barringer (Eng. Daniel Moreau Barringer) it was hypothesized that this giant funnel was formed as a result of a meteorite impact. He purchased a piece of land where the crater is located, and quickly began drilling its bottom, as he was convinced that he would find the meteorite itself. Barringer spent 26 years of his life looking for a meteorite and trying to convince others that his crater is of extraterrestrial meteorite origin.

Drilling proved useless. Estimates of scientists that may have caused Barringer's fatal heart attack,[ source unspecified 678 days] showed that the meteorite should have evaporated almost completely in the atmosphere upon impact with the Earth. During his lifetime, Barringer failed to unequivocally prove to the scientific community and the nature of the origin of the crater.

His merit was not recognized until thirty years later, when convincing evidence that the crater in Arizona was the result of a meteorite impact was presented by Eugene Shoemaker, one of the world's foremost experts on comets and meteorites.

Astronaut training in the crater

The Arizona crater was recognized as the most lunar landscape on Earth, and it was there, under the leadership of Shoemaker, that all the astronauts who were to go to the moon received part of the training.

Tourism

Arizona Crater is one of the landmarks of the state of Arizona. It is visited by many tourists every day. To attract tourists, local residents regularly report numerous sightings of airglows and UFO hovering over this place, as well as mysterious geomagnetic anomalies inside the crater.

There is a museum on the edge of the crater.

Comparison with other Earth meteorite craters

Meteor Crater in Arizona, often referred to as Barringer Crater after its first explorer, is by no means the largest on Earth. In Antarctica, on Wilkes Land, under a kilometer thick ice in 1962, a meteorite crater with a diameter of about 500 kilometers was discovered. In Canada, on the coast of Hudson Bay there is a crater with a diameter of 443 kilometers. However, unlike the largest, whose diameter is measured in hundreds of kilometers, the Arizona crater is the only one that has retained its almost original appearance. According to the museum's official booklet, "although there are larger impact marks on Earth, this crater was the first to be proven of meteoric origin and is the best preserved of its original appearance."

Arizona Crater (Barringer Crater, Devil's Canyon) is one of the largest and best-preserved meteorite crater located near Diablo Canyon in northern Arizona (USA). The modern dimensions of the crater: diameter - 1220 m, depth - 184 m, elevation of the shaft 50 m. It is assumed that the crater arose as a result of a two-million-tonne nickel meteorite falling to Earth about 50 thousand years ago, measuring 61-79 m. The explosion from the fall was similar in power detonation of 1000 atomic bombs similar to those dropped on Hiroshima.

Its popularity is determined by many reasons. First of all, this is the first such formation for which it was proved that it arose when a huge meteorite hit the Earth. More than 30 tons of meteoric iron fragments were collected in and around the crater, and the largest of them weighed 639.1 kg. In addition, around the crater in the soil and on the surface there is a mass of small and tiny balls and dust particles of meteoric iron. Moreover, this is the first meteorite in which diamonds were found.
The first people settled near the crater 25 thousand years ago. And the Indians who inhabited this area told a legend that once a fiery god descended in a chariot, after which the crater remained. Therefore, the Indians wore fragments of a meteorite as amulets and placed them in the graves of their dead relatives.

Scientists have known about the existence of the crater only since 1891. In 1902, mining engineer Barringer bought a piece of land with a crater. Barringer spent 26 years of his life looking for a meteorite and trying to convince others that his crater is of extraterrestrial meteorite origin. From that time to the present, the Arizona crater is the only natural object of this type, privately owned. It belongs to the third generation of the Barringer family.

The crater has been used more than once as a set for filming fantastic films about earthlings traveling to other planets, about the arrival of huge UFOs in their secret harbor closed from prying eyes.

This is not the largest meteorite that fell to Earth. In Antarctica, on Wilkes Island, a meteorite crater 241 kilometers in diameter and 800 meters deep was discovered in 1962. In Canada, on the coast of Hudson Bay, there is a crater with a diameter of 443 km.

Background

One of the first scientists to associate the crater with a meteorite fall was Daniel Barringer (1860-1929). He studied the impact crater in Arizona, which now bears his name. However, at the time, these ideas were not widely accepted (nor was the fact that the Earth is subject to regular meteor bombardment).

In the 1920s, the American geologist Walter Bacher, who studied a number of craters in the United States, suggested that they were caused by some kind of explosive events in the framework of his theory of "Earth pulsation".

Space research has shown that impact craters are the most common geological structure in the solar system. This confirmed the fact that the Earth is also subjected to regular meteorite bombardment.

File:Astrobleme.Morphology.1.jpg

Rice. 1. The structure of the astroblem.

Geological structure

Structural features of craters are determined by a number of factors, among which the main ones are the impact energy (depending, in turn, on the mass and velocity cosmic body, density of the atmosphere), the angle of contact with the surface and the hardness of the substances that form the meteorite and the surface.

During a tangential impact, furrow-like craters of small depth arise with weak destruction of the underlying rocks; such craters are quickly destroyed due to erosion. An example is the Rio Quarta crater field in Argentina, which is about 10,000 years old: the largest crater of the field is 4.5 km long and 1.1 km wide with a depth of 7-8 m.

Rice. 2. Astrobleme Mjolnir (Norway, diameter 40 km), seismic data

When the direction of collision is close to vertical, rounded craters appear, the morphology of which depends on their diameter (see Fig. 1). Small craters (3-4 km in diameter have a simple cup-shaped shape, their funnel is surrounded by a rampart formed by uplifted layers of underlying rocks (Fig.1, 6) (basement rampart), covered by debris ejected from the crater (filled rampart, allogeneic breccia (Fig.1 : 1)).Under the bottom of the crater lie authigenic breccias (Fig.1: 3) - rocks crushed and partially metamorphosed (Fig.1: 4) during a collision, under the breccia there are fractured rocks (Fig. 1: 5,6) The depth-to-diameter ratio of such craters is close to 1/3, which distinguishes them from crater-like structures of volcanic origin, in which the depth-to-diameter ratio is ~0.4.

Rice. 3. Yalali astroblem (Australia, diameter 12 km), magnetic survey data

At large diameters, a central hill appears above the point of impact (in the place of maximum compression of the rocks), at even larger diameters of the crater (more than 14-15 km), ring uplifts are formed. These structures are associated with wave effects (like a drop falling on the surface of water). As the diameter increases, the craters rapidly flatten: the depth/diameter ratio drops to 0.05–0.02.

The size of the crater may depend on the softness of the surface rocks (the softer, the smaller the crater, as a rule).

On bodies that do not have a dense atmosphere, long "rays" (formed as a result of the release of matter at the moment of impact) can remain around craters.

According to the international classification of impactites (International Union of Geological Sciences, 1994), impactites localized in the crater and its environs are divided into three groups (by composition, structure, and degree of impact metamorphism):

• impacted rocks - target rocks that have been slightly transformed by a shock wave and, due to this, have retained their characteristic features;
• melt rocks - solidification products of the impact melt;
• impact breccias are clastic rocks formed without the participation of an impact melt or with a very small amount of it.

Impact events in Earth's history

It is estimated that 1-3 times in a million years a meteorite falls to the Earth, generating a crater at least 20 km wide. This suggests that fewer craters (including "young ones") have been found than they should be.

List of the most famous earth craters:

• Chesapeake Bay impact crater (US East)
• Haughton impact crater (Canada)
• Lonar crater (India)
• Mahuika crater (New Zealand)
• Manson crater (USA)
• Mistastin crater (Canada)
• Nordlinger Ries (Germany)
• Panther Mountain New York, (USA)
• Rochechouart crater (France)
• Sudbury Basin (Canada)
• Silverpit crater (UK, in the North Sea)
• Rio Cuarto craters (Argentina)
• The Siljan Ring (Sweden)
• Vredefort crater (Vredefort, South Africa)
• Weaubleau-Osceola impact structure (Central USA)

erosion of craters

Craters are gradually destroyed by erosion and geological processes that change the surface. Erosion is most intense on planets with dense atmospheres. The well-preserved Arizona crater Barringer is no more than 50 thousand years old.

At the same time, there are bodies with very low cratering and at the same time almost devoid of atmosphere. For example, on Io, the surface is constantly changing due to volcanic eruptions, and on Europa, as a result of the reformation of the ice shell under the influence of the internal ocean. In addition, on ice bodies, the relief of craters is smoothed out as a result of ice melting (during geologically significant periods of time), since ice is more plastic rocks. An example of an ancient crater with a worn relief is Valhalla on Callisto. Another unusual type of erosion was discovered on Callisto - destruction, presumably as a result of ice sublimation under the influence of solar radiation.

The age of known terrestrial impact craters ranges from 1000 years to almost 2 billion years. Very few craters older than 200 million years have survived on Earth. Even less "survivable" are the craters located on the seabed.

Notes

Literature

• V. I. Feldman. Astroblems - stellar wounds of the Earth, Soros Educational Journal, No. 9, 1999
• Ring structures of the face of the planet. - M .: Knowledge, K 62 1989. - 48 s - (New in life, science, technology. Series "Earth Sciences"; No. 5)

Links

• Classification and nomenclature of impactites. International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), Subcommission of the Systematics of Metamorphic Rocks (SCMR), Study group K (Chairman: D. Stöffler)
• Detailed aeromagnetic survey over the Yallalie astrobleme, Western Australia by Phil Hawke & M. C. Dentith, Center for Global Metallogeny, The Univercity of Western Australia

Earth Craters Google Maps KMZ(KMZ label file for Google Earth)

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