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Meteor Crater - Part 2 of 6

The National Geographic Magazine, June 1928, pp. 720-730:

The Mysterious Tomb Of A Giant Meteorite (by William D. Boutwell)

The Crater is 570 Feet Deep

One must approach the mound, climb the half-mile slope which rises 150
feet, and actually stand on the crater rim to experience the awe this
tomb inspires. The bottom of the crater is 440 feet below the natural
level of the surrounding desert; 570 feet below the rim where the
observer first sees the complete picture. The cliff at one's feet
shelves down almost vertically until it reaches the slope of broken rock
and sand torn off the walls by erosion. The sides all around are steep
and ragged. A trip to the bottom, one rightly suspects, is an adventure
of inverted mountain-climbing.
It is disturbing to revisualize the collision. One suddenly remembers
the favorite problem of the physics teacher in high school. What will
happen when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? Here is
the answer! Almost!

A Football Bowl Awaiting A University

The celestial shot that blasted the crater might have landed in some
other place. On Manhattan Island the pit would be a considerable
amphitheater. The main mass of skyscrapers on the lower end of the
famous island could be dropped into the hole and only the Woolworth
Tower would project prominently above the rim. What a pity some
university doesn't locate beside it. Think of a bowl 25 times the size
of Yale's!
Fully to appreciate the dimensions of this splash in stone made by a
gigantic iron meteorite, one must walk around the rim. It is a
three-mile tramp. The pit is 4,200 feet across, roughly four-fifths of a
mile. All about are evidences of a terrific impact. The slopes of the
rim are littered with crushed limestone and sandstone rocks of all
sizes. Where could white sandstone come from in a limestone desert? lt
is necessary to look within the crater again and see bared deep below,
300 feet or more, a belt of white sandstone. On the east and west slopes
especially, the blocks tossed out have astonishing proportions. The
largest is estimated to weigh more than 7,000 tons. One slab 10 feet
thick leans drunkenly, like an old menhir, fully a half mile from the
crater.
It is estimated that the meteorite displaced more than 200,000,000
tons of rock. In an instant it removed material equal to a quarter
of the amount of material excavated in digging the Panama Canal.
The rock strata have been lifted up, wrenched, and wedged into
seemingly impossible angles. On the south side the rock layers have
been lifted almost vertical, and there they stand, grotesquely yet
significantly, pointing toward the north.


Best regards,

Bernd

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