Comments on: As from above, so from below

By: Wzrd1

Wzrd1 — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:02:20 +0000

Itskurtins, it COULD have remained undocumented due to either document loss or more likely, sparse population at that time.
There also is a triple crater in Saudi, in the empty quarter. It fell within the modern historic times (1863 or so), the fireball observed and recorded. The meteors finally located in 1932 by Philby. The site was unable to be located by one expedition since and several after have managed (barely) to locate it and retrieve specimens, the last being 1994-1995 series that destroyed quite a few of the expedition vehicles, due to the harsh environment of the empty quarter.
Total mass estimate was 3500 tons, which broke into four fragments, two of which were recovered (one weighing 2.2 tons). Hundreds of fist sized fragments remain on that remote and difficult site.
It’s also said that one “blessed” stone embedded in the Kaaba in Mecca is of meteoric origin, though that remains unconfirmed.
There are a number of other impact craters throughout the middle east, some of which were recorded in history of being excellent sources of iron.
Not to mention the famous Damascus swords, which were made from meteoric iron from a meteor in India.

By: itskurtins

itskurtins — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:42:06 +0000

I was wondering if you saw any info on a nickel iron impact crater in upper Egypt (remember upper Egypt is in the south) that was created by an impact 5,000 years ago. It was found by some one looking at Google earth, and then documented by an expedition to the site. it is a small crater, but given the environment in the desert there it has survived as if it was created yesterday. The study was published in Science Magazine, and afterward I was surprised you didn’t mention it. They gave the co-ordinants, but I could not find it on Google earth my self. The study was in a report so its behind firewall. But the impact happened within historical times, but I guess the Egyptians were to busy with their pyramids, and left no records of the impact.

By: Kristen Merino

Kristen Merino — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:06:10 +0000

Great picture. As another commenter said above, I really did initially feel as if I was looking at Mars. Very cool.

By: Checkmate1

Checkmate1 — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:59:22 +0000

That crater has survived 300 million years of plate movement, volcanoes, wind, and dinosaurs… and is still visible? Since before the Permian era?
Color me impressed with the tenacity of that hole in the ground! What kind of rock is that?

By: Wzrd1

Wzrd1 — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:32:42 +0000

Fabio, I finally got the chance to look at the site you posted. That is a pseudoscience site that links off of some rather out there theories. They propose that electricity is the prime source of energy on the sun and that planets arc to each other and all manner of other fringe, unproven and unlikely things.
One example is that the site claims that a nova is caused by fissioning of a double charged layer, which is itself some other pseudoscience with zero facts, experimental evidence or observations to support such inane notions.

By: Chris A.

Chris A. — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:58:37 +0000

When I read the title I thought that Phil was going to write about how astrology was from hell, since it’s a play on words based on the proffered guiding principle of that pseudoscience. XD

Here’s a challenge: Is there anywhere on Earth where you can find an impact feature on top of (i.e. whose formation postdates) a volcanic feature? (I don’t know of any, but then again I’m not a geologist.) I’m guessing there may not be any, just because volcanic features tend to be short-lived over geologic time scales.

By: Randy A.

Randy A. — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:40:39 +0000

As Wzrd1 points out, the lines are due to the prevailing winds in the region.

It should also be pointed out the “crater” and “caldera” are not synonyms. A crater forms from an explosion — meteorite impacts and volcanoes both cause explosions.

A caldera forms when the top of a volcano collapses down into a partially emptied magma chamber. Crater Lake in Oregon is an example. The volcano in this picture has a beautiful example of a caldera.

As the text accompanying the picture at NASA’a Earth Observatory points out, there is a smaller crater inside the caldera. The bottom of the crater is white — probably salts.

By: Wzrd1

Wzrd1 — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:05:45 +0000

@Fabui Miguez, the lines are typical with wind erosion, as can be seen from the extended lines behind obstructions. Even money, the wind is guided by the mountain range to the north, but I’d have to look up prevailing winds for the area to be certain.
There DOES appear to be some rift activity in that area as well and I recall reading some time back about some upwelling in the mid-African continent, this might be due to that hotspot activity. The area is quite far from the rift valley region and is pretty much in the center of the continent…
It’s a complicated continent!

By: lovecraft

lovecraft — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:57:27 +0000

I immediately figured out what they are just by looking at the photo. So that makes me what ?

By: Fabio Miguez

Fabio Miguez — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:42:22 +0000

@TechyDad, looking in Google Earth, the lines appear to be all through the Aorounga region in Chad. It might be more to do with plate tectonics, but I’m no geologist
UPDATE: By looking in Google Earth further, I’d have to change that and attribute it to prevaling winds and/or flood plains. If you look just to the NE of the crater you’ll see a series of cliffs, with lots of “channels” cut in them, apparently by the wind. It could be that this is a valley of sorts, channeling the wind in a certain direction, and the lines are the terrain erosion caused by it. Just guessing, though.