[meteorite-list] Divers Find Russian Meteorite Craters in Chebarkul Lake

From: Galactic Stone & Ironworks <meteoritemike_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2013 22:51:51 -0500
Message-ID: <CAKBPJW8pht=ieM6S9QeuojbvXf6CSPZ9bX2+MFsOTkRrVgVyZw_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hi List,

Perhaps, maybe, a large mass plunging to the bottom of the lake might
result in a disturbance at the bottom of the lake, but I agree that it
would not result in a "crater" under these circumstances. However,
they did mention in an article that the bottom of this lake has poor
visibility because of fine sediments that are easily disturbed by the
slightest motion. What the divers might be seeing is depressions
where the sediments have been kicked up and out by the mass as it hit
the bottom. Some silts might wash back down and cover the mass,
leaving it buried under a thin layer of sediment at the bottom of
shallow depression. I guess something like that would be an impact
pit, and not a crater.

Maybe.

Best regards,

MikeG

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On 2/27/13, James Beauchamp <falcon99 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> I'm very skeptical here. The water would absorb almost all of the kinetic
> energy. Unless the lake is a few inches deep, craters are highly unlikely.
> This sounds like more urban legend.
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Feb 27, 2013, at 10:29 AM, Ron Baalke <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
> wrote:
>
>>
>> http://rt.com/news/russian-meteorite-lake-craters-537/
>>
>> Divers find Russian meteorite craters in Chebarkul Lake
>> rt.com
>> February 27, 2013
>>
>> Divers searching Chebarkul Lake in Russia's Urals region have found
>> several craters that may be the impact zones of fragments of the
>> now-famous meteorite that exploded over the area on February 15.
>>
>> The underwater hunt for the rare stones was hampered by cold weather and
>> light-obstructing mud stirred up from the bottom. The divers used
>> powerful lights and probes to uncover several potential sites where
>> meteorite fragments may have landed.
>>
>> On Thursday, a team from Ekaterinburg will join in the search by
>> conducting a magnetic survey of the prospect locations; the initial
>> results could be ready as early as that evening.
>>
>> Some fragments of the meteorite were retrieved in the Chelyabinsk
>> region, which endured the bulk of the spectacular cosmic event. The
>> biggest meteorite chunk discovered was about 1 kilogram. It is hoped
>> that the fragments inside the lake could be much bigger, weighing dozens
>> of kilograms.
>>
>> Videos of the meteorite streaking across Russia's sky proved to be not
>> only awe-inspiring for YouTube, but also served a scientific purpose:
>> Two groups of researchers used the clips to calculate the meteorite's
>> trajectory.
>>
>> Colombian astronomers from the University of Antioquia in Medellin are
>> believed to be the first to report their preliminary results last week
>> at the scientific publishing website arxiv.org. A similar work by
>> researchers at the Astronomical Institute of Czech Academy of Sciences
>> came days later on Monday.
>>
>> Both teams used the proven method of analyzing video footage of the
>> meteorite's descent through a little bit of trigonometry. This time,
>> however, the footage was taken by CCTV, car cameras and smartphones,
>> rather than precisely calibrated observatory recorders.
>>
>> The Russian meteorite was determined to be an Apollo-class asteroid, one
>> of an estimated 5,000 near-Earth bodies orbiting the Sun and
>> occasionally crossing the Earth's orbit. Most of these objects are
>> spread out between the orbits of Venus and Jupiter.
>>
>> Russian astronomers will report their findings later in March, but have
>> already confirmed that the results published by the Columbian and Czech
>> researchers correspond with their findings.
>>
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Received on Wed 27 Feb 2013 10:51:51 PM PST