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Space Science

Possible Large Impact Crater In Nevada 29

Posted by kdawson from the no-wonder-it's-burning dept.
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.
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Possible Large Impact Crater In Nevada More

Possible Large Impact Crater In Nevada

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  • This just in... Art Bell confirms it (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Art Bell, a Nevada legend, has just confirmed that this IS an impact crater, but an impact crater from a UFO! Most importantly, the UFO's occupants are still alive (in human bodies) and will appear on his program to discuss the crash in detail this weekend.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Pojut ( 1027544 )
      I love telling people that Art Bell is the name of the guy that is talking on the last track from the Lateralus album from Tool...I think the name was Faaip De Oiad...

      I thought he admitted it was a hoax though?
      • It's not Art Bell talking. It's somebody that called his show when they were doing a program about Area 51. Art Bell is supposed to be talking at the end of the call, but that part is not played during the track. I've heard later that the person called in and admitted that it was a hoax. Whether or not that's true, I guess only the person calling knows for certain.
        • It's an extremely interesting though whether it's a hoax or not given his satellite uplink was lost for 30min when that call happened. That kinda stuff just doesn't happen easily.

    • Re: (Score:1, Interesting)

      by 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.

  • Hmmm. Rocks... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Stanistani ( 808333 ) on Thursday March 08, 2007 @12:19PM (#18277984) Homepage Journal
    The shocked quartz he found, if confirmed, would be a real good indicator of an impact.
  • Start the "your momma is so fat, when she was in Nevada..." jokes in 3... 2... 1...

  • Prospecting? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by MontyApollo ( 849862 )
    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: (Score:2)

      by rikkards ( 98006 )
      I heard about him. I think he was using the money into researching the possibility of exposure to a large amount of meteor fragments may have on organic material. Last I heard he had a large influx of cash from a local wealthy businessman to continue his studies. Further info on this show is available here [imdb.com]

  • Those shatter cones are interesting. Are there any amateur geologists out there who can tell me if there are other geological structures that closely resemble those? I'm seen many fragments that look just like that in Kentucky, near the town of Hawesville.

  • The shape bothers me... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by srmalloy ( 263556 ) on Thursday March 08, 2007 @02:01PM (#18279270) Homepage
    I'm not a geologist, but the fact that the crater is described as being oblate -- 30x40 miles -- puts it out of the vast majority of impact craters, which are circular; it takes an impact at a very low angle (under 10) to get significant distortion of the crater. Interestingly, if you look at the map of the crater location [kluft.com] and compare it to a map of the previous eruptions of the supervolcano hot spot now under Yellowstone [usgs.gov] (larger image here [usgs.gov]), you could also draw the conclusion that it was the crater from an eruption of the hotspot around 18-20 million years ago. The violence of a supervolcano eruption compared to a normal eruption could account for the presence of shatter cones. Comparing this site to the other known calderas from that hot spot.

  • I'm not a geologist so I largely don't know what I'm talking about, but I am from northern Nevada and the region has some very unique geological features. The Black Rock Desert was part of a very large lake at various points in the past, and is in a very seismically active region. Does anyone know to what extent other factors could also explain the evidence described in the article? To the layman (me) he seems like he's really stretching a couple ideas, so is this really a likely scenario?

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