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The Story of My As-Yet-Unverified Impact Crater

Posted by Soulskill on from the dent-in-the-world dept.

tetrahedrassface writes "When I was very young, my dad took me on a trip to his parents' farm. He wanted to show me 'The Crater.' We walked a long way through second generation hardwoods and finally stood on the rim of a hole that has no equal in this area. As I grew up, I became more interested in The Crater, and would always tell friends about it. It is roughly 1,200 feet across and 120 feet deep, and has a strange vibe about it. When you walk up to it, you feel like something really big happened here. Either the mother of all caves is down there, or a large object smashed into this place a long, long time ago. I bought aerial photos when I was twelve and later sent images from GIS to a geologist at a local university. He pretty much laughed me out of his office, saying that it was a sinkhole. He did wish me luck, however. It may be sinkhole. Who knows? Last week I borrowed a metal detector and went poking around, and have found the strangest shrapnel pieces I have ever seen. They are composed of a metal that reacts strongly to acids. The largest piece so far reacted with tap water and dish-washing detergent. My second trip today yielded lots of strange new pieces of metal, and hopefully, one day the truth will be known. Backyard science is so much fun. And who knows; if it is indeed a cave, maybe Cerberus resides there."

5 of 250 comments (clear)

  1. Looks like a karst depression by damas · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Could be a karst landform http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karst_topography. Carbonate rock will react with water.

  2. never heard of metorites reacting with water by scapermoya · · Score: 3, Interesting

    my guess is that you have something along the lines of calcium carbide in those rocks

    --
    Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun the frumious Bandersnatch.
    1. Re:never heard of metorites reacting with water by AnswerIs42 · · Score: 5, Interesting
      If they did, he would not be here to post about it.... There are only 6 metals that will react with water, and they are the Alkali metals, and they are quite energetic (as in Jamie Wants Big Boom).

      Looking at the pictures, the depressions to the north, the cutouts running north and south.. I would have to agree with the expert he consulted that what they have there are sink holes.

      The metals could have even been dumped there, not as in a hoax, years and years ago as the site could have been a "garbage dump". Unless you know the history of the area, may never know for sure.

  3. Re:Maybe yes, maybe no, hard to say from here... by Maury+Markowitz · · Score: 3, Interesting

    > It could easily be a meteor crater or a sinkhole, or even an old quarry

    Given that the posted feature has a second landform that appears largely identical just to the upper left, I'm going with quarry.

  4. Re:Hmm by eexaa · · Score: 3, Interesting

    No idea, but on the second thought this totally reminds me one long-inactive volcano we got here in CZ. Google for 'Komorni hurka' or 'Kammerbühl'.

    Images from the actual volcano crater:

    http://kurz.geologie.sci.muni.cz/obrazky_ucebnice/obrazek4_23.jpg
    http://regiony.ic.cz/clanky/karlov/hurka_v.jpg