29 November 2022 - MASSIVE METEOR CRATER in ARIZONA

 

MASSIVE METEOR 

CRATER in ARIZONA 

G'day folks,

This 4,000-foot-diameter hole is touted as "the most well known, best preserved meteorite crater on Earth." 

About 50,000 years ago, a meteorite came screaming from the sky and slammed into the Earth. The scar it left across the Arizona landscape is now a popular tourist attraction, complete with wreckage from daredevil pilots that flew too low.

While it’s known simply as “Meteor Crater” to most, scientists refer to it as “Barringer Crater” after Daniel Barringer, the man who first suggested that the giant hole was made by a flying space rock. Barringer was a mining engineer, and his business, Standard Iron Company, staked claim on the property. In 1903, along with his partner, mathematician and physicist Benjamin Chew Tilghman, Barringer conducted land surveys and collected documentation supporting his meteor theory. Despite his efforts, he was met with skepticism and disbelief from the scientific community.

 

Planetary science didn’t mature enough for geologists to swallow Barringer’s impact theory until the ’50s and ’60s. A discovery of the minerals coesite and stishovite, which only occur when quartz-bearing rocks are severely shocked by an instantaneous overpressure, supported all of Barringer’s findings. Unfortunately, Barringer died in 1929 and was never vindicated in life. Eugene M. Shoemaker, who discovered the minerals, was given credit as the man who uncovered the first unarguable proof of extraterrestrial impact. 

Those visiting the Meteor Crater should keep their eyes out for the plane wreckage said to still be visible after an ill-fated attempt in 1964 to buzz the crater’s rim, ending in a fiery crash that seriously injured a pair of commercial pilots. Both men survived, and the wreckage of the Cessna 150 was left in the crater, perhaps as a cautionary visual aid to other daredevils that found the geological oddity hard to resist.

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

 

'GOSSE BLUFF'

- IMPACT CRATER IN 

CENTRAL AUSTRALIA -

G'day folks,

Welcome to a spectacular impact crater in the rugged heart of Central Australia. 

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. 

11 November 2022 - METEORITE CRATER FIELD - ESTONIA

 

METEORITE 

CRATER FIELD 

- ESTONIA -

G'day folks,

Mysterious craters may have been home to an ancient cult. 

Kaali, on the Estonian island of Saaremaa, is the site of the last giant meteorite impact to occur in a densely populated region. The landscape that the collision left in its aftermath has been the subject of many mythological tales and may have been home to a mysterious ancient cult.

About 7,500 years ago, a huge rock from space came hurtling toward the Earth. Several kilometers above the Earth’s surface, the meteorite broke into pieces from the pressure and heat of the atmosphere. The resulting chunks collided into Saaremaa with the force of a small nuclear bomb, wreaking havoc on the landscape and possibly claiming numerous victims.

The explosion left nine total craters, now known as the Kaali Meteorite Crater Field. Some of these craters are quite small: one measures only twelve meters across and one meter deep. But the most interesting of the group is the largest crater, a gently sloping bowl filled with stagnant, murky water.

 

Simply known as Kaali crater, the largest crater (which measures 110 meters across) is believed to have been a sacred site for many centuries, in part due to its cosmic origin. Surrounding Kaali crater are the remains of an immense stone wall from the Late Bronze Age, stronger than any similar structures in the region and providing clues to the crater’s use by ancient peoples.

Archaeologists believe it is possible that the wall served as a stronghold for an ancient cult settlement. As evidenced by the unusually large quantity of animal bones found within the wall’s borders, the Kaali crater lake was not only a watering place but also a place of sacrifice. While it is known that Estonians have made live offerings in the past (for good harvests and other reasons), one curious aspect of the site’s animal remains is that some date back only to the 1600s, long after the Church forbade such rituals.

 

Some even believe that ancient offerings still remain undiscovered at the bottom of the six-meter-deep Kaali lake. However, deposits of oak trees in the water have prevented scientists from probing beyond four meters below the surface. Whatever the case may be, Kaali is a site of indisputable importance, historically and scientifically speaking.

The experience doesn’t end at the crater field. There is even a Kaali Meteor Museum and Hotel—in case you want to stay for another day among ancient cult ruins and the evidence of terrifying destruction.