Clancy Tucker's Blog: CRATERS

Showing posts with label CRATERS. Show all posts

30 November 2022 - 'GOSSE BLUFF' - IMPACT CRATER IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

'GOSSE BLUFF'

- IMPACT CRATER IN

CENTRAL AUSTRALIA -

G'day folks,

This 3-mile-wide bowl in the middle of the vast flatness of Central Australia is a an unexpected sight. More than 140 million years ago, a comet or asteroid hit the surface of the earth in the Red Centre, creating a giant impact crater. Travelling the unsealed Mareenie Loop from Alice Springs to Kings Canyon, you can see the remnants of what must have been a jolt of unimaginable scale.

The Gosse Bluff crater (also called Gosses Bluff) is an impressive sight from afar. It is best seen from Tylers Pass, on Namatjira Drive. Once inside the crater, its size and shape lose their effects. Erosion over the years has reduced its range not only horizontally but also vertically. Today, the crater’s 3-mile diameter is significantly smaller than the original size, and the hole is less deep.

Nonetheless, this site has an important cultural significance for the local Aboriginal people. Located within the Tnorala Conservation Reserve, the bluff is a registered sacred site but its traditional owners, the Arrernte people, accept visitors. There are two marked paths that bring the visitors to get a closer look at the crater’s surface and some vantage points.

21 November 2022 - TSWAING METEORITE CRATER - SOUTH AFRICA

TSWAING

METEORITE CRATER

- SOUTH AFRICA -

G'day folks,

Welcome to an ancient impact crater on the outskirts of Pretoria.

Tswaing, meaning “place of salt” in the Setswana language, is an ancient impact crater outside the metropolis of Pretoria in South Africa’s Gauteng province. The Tswaing Crater formed some 220,000 years ago when a giant meteorite slammed into the Earth, creating a half-mile-wide crater and destroying all vegetation within a 25-mile radius.

Today, a blind salt lake lies at the bottom of the crater, and the area is surrounded by dense tree growth. This natural wonder is a feature in the region that even a fair amount of locals aren’t unaware of. Yet it is clear that early humans in the area knew of the crater site. Stone Age implements and pottery have been discovered at the crater rim, where deposits of salt were collected by these early inhabitants from the lake at the bottom of the hole.

In the early 20th century, salt and soda ash were mined commercially from the crater lake. The mining went on for nearly 50 years, lasting until the 1950s. The remains of these activities are still present as ruins around the crater. At the center of the crater lake, you can see the remains of several boreholes from the drilling that helped confirm the meteoric origin of the crater.

The Tswaing Crater now lies within a protected reserve, with several hiking trails leading up to the crater rim and down to the lake.

12 November 2021 - MYSTERY CRATERS DISCOVERED IN AUSTRALIA

MYSTERY CRATERS

DISCOVERED IN AUSTRALIA

G'day folks,

Halfway between Bundaberg and Gin Gin is one of Australia’s greatest mysteries. There, you’ll find a plot of pockmarked land that has baffled people for decades.

In 1971, this patch land was owned by a crop farmer. The farmer wanted to extend the area of his crops, but kept hitting rocks in his attempt to clear the land. He noticed the rocks weren’t like others in the area and sent off to be studied.

It was discovered that the curious rocks were 25 million years old. Intrigued by the strange rocks, a research team investigated the area and uncovered 35 oddly shaped craters hidden in the ground.

The mottled mixture of sandstone and ochre stain have been the subject of many investigations, and people have yet to reach a conclusion as to how they formed. Popular theories range from meteorites to ancient volcanic activity to, of course, extra terrestrial lifeforms.