[meteorite-list] The Great Crater Debate In Nebraska

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:00:08 2004
Message-ID: <200207210019.RAA02126_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.nptelegraph.com/nstory1.html

The Great Crater Debate

Opinions differ over mile-wide depression
Associated Press
July 20, 2002

(AP) - Professor Wakefield Dort Jr. passionately tells anyone willing to
listen that the mile-wide dent near this farm village was created when a
meteorite slammed into the Earth as recently as 500 years ago.

On Tuesday, he will stand at a podium in Los Angeles to make his case to
hundreds of fellow scientists.

And while Dort addresses the annual Meteoritical Society meeting, some folks
back in Nebraska say his theory is out of this world - full of holes, if you
will.

"It is not a crater. There is no evidence," said University of Nebraska
scientist Mark Kuzila, who has studied the site.

Dort, a retired University of Kansas geologist who has done his own research
on the site, respectfully begs to differ.

"This is an intellectual chasm," he said. "If we had the money, we could
settle this in a matter of one summer."

In the middle of the debate is 82-year-old Frank Bartak, who was born in a
homestead on the edge of the contentious depression and whose family still
farms the land in and around it some 10 miles west of Merna.

"I don't think anybody can prove it one way or the other," Bartak said.
"They've been up here poking around for years, and they don't know anymore
about it than I do.

"All I know that it's as flat as all get-out," he said.

The depression - or crater - does look out of place. The Bartaks grow crops
in it, but even that doesn't help it blend in much.

Rolling fields of corn, soybeans, alfalfa and pasture stretch for miles in
all directions up to the depression's edge, which drops 65 feet at some
points to the floor below.

Dort believes the depression was formed by the impact of a large meteorite
that packed an explosion with the force of several hydrogen bombs between
3,000 and 500 years ago.

Dort started studying the site in 1991 after he and some colleagues
discovered the unusual dent on a topographic map - a nearly perfectly round
formation smack dab in the middle of Nebraska.

"I said 'What in the hell is that?"' Dort said.

Dort's team renamed the depression the Merna Crater after the nearby village
of 377 residents.

Because less than 60 impact craters have been confirmed in North America,
Dort's initial conclusions caused a media stir, including articles in
magazines such as National Geographic, Earth and Discover.

The town embraced its newfound fame in 1992, adding the slogan "Merna Rocks"
to its annual Heritage Days celebration.

Dort has collected samples from the site and claims he found thousands of
minute black magnetic particles not native to Nebraska. He also notes that
Pawnee Indian legend tells of a "thundering cloud" that appeared over the
area "leaving behind children of black stone."

Dort's team also found a layer of crushed glass about three feet below the
surface with a pocket of gray soil underneath.

University of Nebraska geologist Vern Souders speculates that what Dort
found is fulgurite, which is formed when lightning strikes sand.

The Nebraska research included drilling test holes inside and next to the
depression, going much deeper than the Kansas team did.

The Nebraskans said they found the "crater" had the same origin as similar,
though less impressive, depressions in the region carved out by relentless
winds during dry periods thousands of years ago.

With the verdict still out, Dort hopes his presentation Tuesday will pique
enough interest that someone agrees to fund further tests on the site, which
he said would cost less than $10,000. He has spent about $5,000 of his own
money on the project so far.

"I've been working up to this - to get this story before an audience of
experts," Dort said. "We'll see what their feedback is. We're hoping for
some collaboration."

Daniel Britt, a geology professor at the University of Tennessee, said he
will listen with interest to Dort's presentation.

"It's another piece of the scientific puzzle," Britt said. "But I don't know
if he'll find people with a big sack of money to spend to find out."

Merna Postmaster Dee Adams said talk about the crater has subsided in the
town in recent years.

"The people don't get too excited about it any more," she said. "But I still
get people through here once in a while that want to talk about it."

Meanwhile, Bartak plans to go about his business, helping his family farm.

"If it's absolutely proven to be a crater, there'll be a certain numbers of
tourists that will come around, I suppose," he said. "But it wouldn't make
any difference to me - I'm not going to run a hamburger stand."
Received on Sat 20 Jul 2002 08:19:24 PM PDT