Possible Large Impact Crater In Nevada

While participating in amateur rocket launches in Black Rock Desert (the site of Burning Man), Ian Kluft noticed rocks with some oddities. Through the Internet he learned the characteristics of impact craters, then found some clues in photographs and Google Maps. Examining the area, he collected samples of rock with impact patterns and other evidence. He found that previous geological puzzles in the region are well explained as impact structures. Volunteers are finding peculiarities in satellite imagery of the area. Kluft presents his evidence here — "Submitted for Study: Discovery of Possible Impact Crater at Nevada's Black Rock Desert." This is a preliminary, six-week effort intended to bring the site to the attention of geologists. Confirmation will take some time and more elaborate tools than his group has.

Prospecting?

[MontyApollo]

I saw some show recently where some guy was making a lot of money finding and selling meteor fragments left over from impact in Kansas. I think in that case it exploded in air, but I don't know whether that means more fragments or not.

Re:This just in... Art Bell confirms it

[Anonymous Coward]

In further comment, Art stated that the occupants were members of the Purple Shroud Cult that killed themselves in an attempt to reach the comet Hale-Bopp (which they believed to be the UFO that Art Bell had claimed it was). Art has used thier return as proof that he is not responsible for their deaths.

Seriously, quote or citing Art Bell, or any of the nut-cases he has on his show, is like citing Jerry Springer for his views on family values.

Re:The shape bothers me...

[ikluft]

More info on the Yellowstone/Newberry hot spot tracks can be found with this search: http://www.google.com/search?q=yellowstone+newberr y+%22hot+spot+track%22 [google.com]

That isn't as clear a picture as the image you found would indicate. Research found by that search show the hot spot tracks for the Yellowstone WY and Newberry OR calderas appear to trace back to a common unexplained origin around the Owhyee Plateau on the OR/NV border.

Also note that even the meanest volcano can't produce enough pressure to cause shatter cones in rocks. If the pros confirm them, it would mean the only possible causes are an impact or a nuke.

Re:The shape bothers me...

[barakn]

The Sudbury crater is over 1.8 billion years old, and thus has had plenty of time for tectonic forces to deform its shape. According to this site [hu-berlin.de] the crater "was affected by orogenic deformation that led to shortening of the Structure by large-scale thrusting and folding." It was probably circular when first formed. The thing about low-angle impactors is that they have to pass through more atmosphere than a impactor on a vertical trajectory, and are thus more likely to be destoyed in an airburst, like the Tunguska event in Siberia, or skip off the atmosphere, like the event over the western U.S. in 1972. Of course the Black Rock crater, if it exists, may also have started circular but stretched into an ellipse by normal faulting in the area.