[meteorite-list] Arizona Meteor Crater Holds Deep Fascination

From: Larry Lebofsky <lebofsky_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Apr 7 00:22:11 2006
Message-ID: <1144372701.4435bddd661d4_at_hindmost.LPL.Arizona.EDU>

Hi Mike:

The major error: 50,000 (have seen as recently as 30,000 years), not
50,000,000 years (factor of 1000)!

I do not know all of the details about the amount trucked off but I do
remember there being some question about that.

I know there are lot of serious and casual collectors on this list. How many
of you have ever held a meteor? Yeh, I know I am a fussy scientist!

One other fussy thing: "red sndstone depths." Since I do not have any of my
textbooks with me, I had to Google this:

Stratigraphy:

  9 m of red sandstone (Moenkopi)
 81 m or yellow/orange limestone (Kaibab)
200 m of gray sandstone (Coconino)


PS

If you subscribe to Meteorite magazine, please let me know when you get it
(was sent to the post office the middle of last week).

Quoting meteoriteplaya_at_comcast.net:

> Hi Larry
> Actually they are only off by a factor of 100X on the error I see.
>
> I also noticed the article mentions a size of 550 feet deep and 4000 feet
> across. This made me curious as I collect meteor crater postcards and
> remembered 570 as the most often used figure. I decided to look at all my
> cards....almost 125 and see if the figure 550 was ever used. The most common
> number mentioned in these cards is 570 ft & 4000 ft. The second most common
> is 600 feet & 4000 ft. There are also cards with 700 ft and 800 ft but these
> were produced before 1940. Then it seems sometimes in the 80's it became 4150
> ft across and in the 90's it was now only 550 ft deep. So the figure MC
> Enterprises uses most often now is 550 ft deep and 4150 feet across. I guess
> it is getting further across and that material is filling the interior. So I
> guess the reporter chose to use the 550 ft and round the distance across to
> 4000 ft.
>
> The article also mentioned that:
> >Miners, reports indicate, loaded as much as 20 tons of meteor fragments onto
>
> trains bound for smelting facilities in Texas where it was made into tools.>
>
> We discussed this on the list several years ago. If I remember correctly
> there
> was some debate as to the accuracy of this story. One of the problems with
> the
> story was the quantity. That would be 18,200 kg. How long would it take to
> collect that much material? Can any of you long time members remember the
> outcome of the discussion?
>
> Mike
> --
> Mike Jensen
> Jensen Meteorites
> 16730 E Ada PL
> Aurora, CO 80017-3137
> 303-337-4361
> IMCA 4264
> website: www.jensenmeteorites.com
>
>
Received on Thu 06 Apr 2006 09:18:21 PM PDT