50,000 years ago a huge iron-nickle meteorite
or dense cluster of meteorites about 150 feet across and
weighing several hundred thousand tons, struck with an explosive force
greater than 20 million tons of TNT.
The result was a crater 700 feet deep, over 4,000 feet across
and 2.4 miles in circumference.
The crater walls were uplifted as much as 150 feet.
Large blocks of limestone, the size of small houses
were heaved onto the rim.
The block under the red x is the size of a small house.
The impact generated immensely powerful shock waves that swept across
the level plain devestating all in their path.
Fragments of rock and iron-nickle, some as large as a few feet,
were thrown as far as several miles away.
The intense pressures transformed small concentrations of
grafite into microscopic diamonds.
To give you a better idea of the crater size,
imagine twenty football games being played
simultaneously on it's floor,while two million
spectators watch from it's sloping sides.
There is evidence of the crater referenced by Native Americans in the area.
The first written report was made in 1871 by a man named Franklin
who served as a scout for General Custer.
For years it was refered to as Franklin's hole.
Later settlers named it Coon Butte.
It was thought to be an extinct volcano, possibly part of the
Hopi Buttes volcanic field located to the northeast.
From 1964 to 1972, the U.S. Geological Survey and NASA
provided extensive science training at Meteor Crater for the
Apollo astronauts.
Mother Nature continues her slow process of erosion.
Fortunately, Meteor Crater has sustained relatively little
removal of material since it's formation.
Metor Crater is the first proven and best preserved inpact site on earth.
More information can be obtained at
Meteor Crater Enterprises, inc.
P.O. Box 70
Flagstaff, Az 86002-0070
520-289-5898
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