[meteorite-list] Croplands May Cover Ohio Crater

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Apr 12 14:37:09 2005
Message-ID: <200504121830.j3CIUrJ25884_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1113298229177151.xml
  
Croplands may cover NW Ohio crater
Bill Sloat
Plain Dealer
April 12, 2005

Cincinnati - Some researchers suspect there is a meteorite crater nearly
a half-mile across in Seneca County, where it is veiled under croplands
famed for fresh tomatoes and bin-busting soybean crops.

Donald J. Stierman, an earth science professor at the University of
Toledo, has been investigating an odd hole that seems to have been poked
through the limestone formation that lies beneath most of northwest Ohio.

Stierman said the site is oblong and filled with debris left behind when
Ice Age glaciers melted.

"It's hidden. You can't see that it is there," said Stierman, adding
that seismic probes and gravity measurements have produced data seeming
to reveal that an impact rocked the area more than 100,000 years ago. He
said the crater probably was a lake until the Ice Age.

"Here's another thing that seems to speak to an impact. There's a good
aquifer around the area. People tap into it to get water for their
wells. But when you drill in the crater, that water is missing. So we're
mapping the hole in the limestone."

Stierman has tentatively named the site Liberty Crater and is preparing
a scientific paper that will report his findings. He picked the name
because the site is in Liberty Township between Fostoria and Fremont
near Ohio 635.

Meanwhile, the geology world is staying tuned for reports about another
suspected impact site in Ohio.

Scientists working for a private firm exploring for oil and gas in
Muskegon County may have stumbled onto something underground, but so far
the details are closely guarded.
Received on Tue 12 Apr 2005 02:30:53 PM PDT