[meteorite-list] Mystery Trench In Wales Caused By Meteorite Fall?

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:55:50 2004
Message-ID: <200201241638.IAA26776_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://icnorthwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/regionalnews/page.cfm?objectid=11563093&method=full

Experts called to investigate Snowdonia's space riddle
By Gareth Hughes
Daily Post (United Kingdom)
January 24, 2002

A 20 METRE-LONG trench has mysteriously appeared on a remote North Wales
mountainside - arousing the interest of some of Britain's leading
astronomers.

The gash, about 2,500ft high, between Moel Eilio and Snowdon, starts amid a
cluster of smashed rocks, ending in boggy ground close to a fence.

Astronomers were last night investigating the possibility the gouge mark
could have been caused by a meteor smashing into the earth.

Another less likely theory is that it may have been caused by a lightning
strike.

One expert told the Daily Post yesterday: "It is all fascinating stuff, and
if it is eventually found to have been caused by a meteor it will be
virtually unique in Wales."

Local walkers and fell-runners first noticed some disturbance, but it was
not until Caernarfon builder, Mike Blake, a member of the Eryri Harriers
club, examined it in more detail that the interest of leading authorities
was aroused.

Mike, a keen amateur photographer, visited the site and took photographs. He
has sent them to the Natural History Museum and Jodrell Bank Observatory in
Cheshire.

"It's clear that some natural occurrence has taken place, but what exactly
it was, I just don't know," he said.

" It appears that a rocky outcrop was hit and shattered, as there are
fragments over a wide area. Leading away from it is a large gouge mark about
20 metres long, which ends in the boggy ground."

Mike tried to clear a drainage ditch to see what lay at the bottom of the
trench, but it merely filled up again.

"I am desperately anxious to know what caused it, but one thing is clear,
and that is that it was not caused by any vehicle," he said.

He and others are adamant the damage had not occurred in October when the
British Mountain Relays were held in the area.

This week Mike has been in touch with the Armagh Observatory in Northern
Ireland, whose director, Professor Mark Bailey, said he was intrigued by
Mike's detailed description.

"There does appear to have been a violent impact with the mountainside," he
said.

One puzzling feature, he said, was the long trench, as that would indicate
an object having hit the ground at a shallow angle, while a
meteorite would be expected to approach earth much more directly.

"It would be wonderful if it were a meteorite because we don't get many of
them in this part of the world, but something about this does not ring true.
If it were a meteorite, it would almost certainly have been clearly
visible," said Professor Bailey.

"It is, nonetheless, fascinating, and I shall be trying to follow this up."

His concerns about the angle of trajectory and the trench were shared by Jay
Tait, director of the Knighton Observatory in Powys.

"It is well worth further investigation, and I shall be following this with
great interest. If it were a meteorite, it would be virtually unique in
Wales, the last one in England having been in the 1960s," he said.

Tom Muxlow, an astronomer at Jodrell Bank Observatory, added: "It could
conceivably be a meteorite but one would expect some debris, and that
requires further investigation and geological analysis."
Received on Thu 24 Jan 2002 11:38:31 AM PST