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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.

5 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. The shape bothers me... by srmalloy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm not a geologist, but the fact that the crater is described as being oblate -- 30x40 miles -- puts it out of the vast majority of impact craters, which are circular; it takes an impact at a very low angle (under 10) to get significant distortion of the crater. Interestingly, if you look at the map of the crater location and compare it to a map of the previous eruptions of the supervolcano hot spot now under Yellowstone (larger image here), you could also draw the conclusion that it was the crater from an eruption of the hotspot around 18-20 million years ago. The violence of a supervolcano eruption compared to a normal eruption could account for the presence of shatter cones. Comparing this site to the other known calderas from that hot spot.

    1. 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.

    2. Re:The shape bothers me... by ikluft · · Score: 3, Interesting
      More info on the Yellowstone/Newberry hot spot tracks can be found with this search: http://www.google.com/search?q=yellowstone+newberr y+%22hot+spot+track%22

      That isn't as clear a picture as the image you found would indicate. Research found by that search show the hot spot tracks for the Yellowstone WY and Newberry OR calderas appear to trace back to a common unexplained origin around the Owhyee Plateau on the OR/NV border.

      Also note that even the meanest volcano can't produce enough pressure to cause shatter cones in rocks. If the pros confirm them, it would mean the only possible causes are an impact or a nuke.

  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.