That what probably happens when the meteor (some said it was a meteorite) stuck Earth. I'm referring to one such incident that happened 50,000 years ago during the Pleistocene period. I was not around then but I was there during the science period, that's when my teacher told us about it. At least I think it was around then.
Why am I suddenly talking about this meteor? Well, it was during my flight from Orlando to LA when I saw this huge crater some distance away. Took a picture with the TLC to check out later if it was the same meteor crater I heard about from my school days.
Why am I suddenly talking about this meteor? Well, it was during my flight from Orlando to LA when I saw this huge crater some distance away. Took a picture with the TLC to check out later if it was the same meteor crater I heard about from my school days.
This is a Google Earth image as viewed from 50 miles up. At the bottom right is a green line. That line represents my flight path as recorded (briefly) on my GPS. The coordinates on the top left is where the crater is. IT IS THE METEOR CRATER!!!Yeah, I'm pretty much excited about it as it was one of those things that kept my interest in natural sciences when I was a kid.
Here's a bit of info on the crater:
The Meteor Crater, sometimes known as the Barringer Crater and formerly as the Canyon Diablo crater, is a famous impact crater, located about 35 miles (55 km) east of Flagstaff, near Winslow in the northern Arizona desert (USA). Its coordinates are 35°1′38″N, 111°1′22″W. Its elevation is 5,723 ft. The crater is somewhat misnamed, as it was actually excavated by a meteorite, not a meteor.
The crater is about 1,200 m (4,000 ft) in diameter, and some 170 m deep (570 ft). It is surrounded by a 45 m (150 ft) high rim of rock, raised above the surrounding plains by the force of the impact. The bottom of the crater is filled with rubble from the impact, to a depth of 213-244 m (700-800 ft) below the crater's center.
The object which excavated the crater was a nickel-iron meteorite about 50 meters (54.7 yards) across, which impacted the plain at a speed of several kilometers (miles) a second. The speed of the impact has been a subject of some debate. Modelling initially suggested that the meteorite struck at a speed of up to 20 kilometers per second (45,000 mph), but more recent research suggests the impact was substantially slower, at 12.8 kilometers per second (28,600 mph). It is believed that about half of the impactor's 300,000 tonne (330,693 ton) bulk was vaporized during its descent, before it hit the ground.
The impact produced a massive explosion equivalent to at least 2.5 megatons of TNT – equivalent to a large thermonuclear explosion and about 150 times the yield of the atomic bombs used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The explosion dug out 175 million tons of rock. The shock of impact propagated as a hemispherical shock wave that blasted the rock down and outward from the point of impact, forming the crater. Much more impact energy, equivalent to an estimated 6.5 megatons, was released into the atmosphere and generated a devastating above-ground shockwave.
For a meteorite of its size, the impact melted surprisingly little rock, though it produced high enough temperatures and pressures to transform carbon minerals into diamonds and lonsdaleite, a form of diamond found near the crater in fragments of Arizona's Canyon Diablo meteorite. Limestone blocks as massive as 30 tons were tossed outside the crater's rim, and debris from the impact has been found over an area of 100 square miles (260 km²).
The shock of the impact would have produced a localized earthquake of magnitude 5.5 or higher. The blast and thermal energy released by the impact would certainly have been lethal to living creatures within a wide area. All life within a radius of three to four kilometers would have been killed immediately. The impact produced a fireball hot enough to cause severe flash burns at a range of up to 10 km (7 miles). A shock wave moving out at 2,000 km/h (1,200 mph) leveled everything within a radius of 14-22 km (8.5-13.5 miles), dissipating to hurricane-force winds that persisted to a radius of 40 km (25 miles).
Info sourced from Wikipedia
The crater is about 1,200 m (4,000 ft) in diameter, and some 170 m deep (570 ft). It is surrounded by a 45 m (150 ft) high rim of rock, raised above the surrounding plains by the force of the impact. The bottom of the crater is filled with rubble from the impact, to a depth of 213-244 m (700-800 ft) below the crater's center.
The object which excavated the crater was a nickel-iron meteorite about 50 meters (54.7 yards) across, which impacted the plain at a speed of several kilometers (miles) a second. The speed of the impact has been a subject of some debate. Modelling initially suggested that the meteorite struck at a speed of up to 20 kilometers per second (45,000 mph), but more recent research suggests the impact was substantially slower, at 12.8 kilometers per second (28,600 mph). It is believed that about half of the impactor's 300,000 tonne (330,693 ton) bulk was vaporized during its descent, before it hit the ground.
The impact produced a massive explosion equivalent to at least 2.5 megatons of TNT – equivalent to a large thermonuclear explosion and about 150 times the yield of the atomic bombs used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The explosion dug out 175 million tons of rock. The shock of impact propagated as a hemispherical shock wave that blasted the rock down and outward from the point of impact, forming the crater. Much more impact energy, equivalent to an estimated 6.5 megatons, was released into the atmosphere and generated a devastating above-ground shockwave.
For a meteorite of its size, the impact melted surprisingly little rock, though it produced high enough temperatures and pressures to transform carbon minerals into diamonds and lonsdaleite, a form of diamond found near the crater in fragments of Arizona's Canyon Diablo meteorite. Limestone blocks as massive as 30 tons were tossed outside the crater's rim, and debris from the impact has been found over an area of 100 square miles (260 km²).
The shock of the impact would have produced a localized earthquake of magnitude 5.5 or higher. The blast and thermal energy released by the impact would certainly have been lethal to living creatures within a wide area. All life within a radius of three to four kilometers would have been killed immediately. The impact produced a fireball hot enough to cause severe flash burns at a range of up to 10 km (7 miles). A shock wave moving out at 2,000 km/h (1,200 mph) leveled everything within a radius of 14-22 km (8.5-13.5 miles), dissipating to hurricane-force winds that persisted to a radius of 40 km (25 miles).
Info sourced from Wikipedia
1 comment:
wow...now That's interesting info.
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