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Possible Large Impact Crater In Nevada

Posted by kdawson on from the no-wonder-it's-burning dept.

While participating in amateur rocket launches in Black Rock Desert (the site of Burning Man), Ian Kluft noticed rocks with some oddities. Through the Internet he learned the characteristics of impact craters, then found some clues in photographs and Google Maps. Examining the area, he collected samples of rock with impact patterns and other evidence. He found that previous geological puzzles in the region are well explained as impact structures. Volunteers are finding peculiarities in satellite imagery of the area. Kluft presents his evidence here — "Submitted for Study: Discovery of Possible Impact Crater at Nevada's Black Rock Desert." This is a preliminary, six-week effort intended to bring the site to the attention of geologists. Confirmation will take some time and more elaborate tools than his group has.

4 of 29 comments (clear)

  1. overhead pictures? by radarsat1 · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is the extent of my geological research abilities:

    http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=40.984045+ N,+118.916016+W&layer=&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=14&ll=40.987 155,-118.916016&spn=0.027277,0.086517&t=k&iwloc=ad dr

  2. Hmmm. Rocks... by Stanistani · · Score: 2, Informative

    The shocked quartz he found, if confirmed, would be a real good indicator of an impact.

    --
    You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
  3. Re:Shatter cones by ikluft · · Score: 4, Informative
    The references that I found useful to learn about shatter cones are You have to be careful not to assume that any conical rock is a shatter cone. It's something that the shock wave places in the rock at large and small scales. It's like a fractal in that the pattern exists within the pattern at any scales you can observe.
  4. Re:The shape bothers me... by ikluft · · Score: 5, Informative
    Believe me, I checked for that. :-)

    An example of a confirmed impact crater which is elliptical is the Sudbury Crater in Ontario, Canada. There are plenty of others. It would just mean that the impactor arrived at a steeper angle than those at circular craters.