WHERE IS IT and WHAT IS IT? This bowl-shaped feature in eolian sand was originally thought to be a meteorite impact crater by local resident V.M. King in 1934. Supposedly he and other residents saw a fireball in 1892 and assumed this was the fall location. Famed meteorite hunter H.H. Nininger sunk a 500 foot shaft into its western rim but couldn't locate any meteorite fragments.
In 1963, it was studied by two Smithsonian geologists who found only questionable iron spherules, but no diagnostic evidence of impact origin. As recently as 2010, students from the Colorado School of Mines conducted a geophysical study of the feature - they found nothing to rule out impact origin but found no real evidence confirming it is of meteoritic origin either.
The feature itself measures 110 meters by 83 meters, it is 8 meters deep and its "rim" is 6 m above the surrounding landscape. Something to think about - our rough calculations indicate that a 4 kiloton explosion could create such a feature. This does put to rest that local residents saw its creation since the resulting explosion would have caused mass-destruction in the area.
In 1963, it was studied by two Smithsonian geologists who found only questionable iron spherules, but no diagnostic evidence of impact origin. As recently as 2010, students from the Colorado School of Mines conducted a geophysical study of the feature - they found nothing to rule out impact origin but found no real evidence confirming it is of meteoritic origin either.
The feature itself measures 110 meters by 83 meters, it is 8 meters deep and its "rim" is 6 m above the surrounding landscape. Something to think about - our rough calculations indicate that a 4 kiloton explosion could create such a feature. This does put to rest that local residents saw its creation since the resulting explosion would have caused mass-destruction in the area.
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