Arizona Meteor Crator
Trip Start
Feb 16, 2010
1
Trip End
Feb 16, 2010
Meteor Crater Arizona, Arizona
Sunday, February 21, 2010
It seemed a lot bigger in the movie . . . due to a fish eye lens no doubt. But still it was quite impressive.
The crater was discovered at the end of the nineteenth century by Grove
Gilbert, and studies by him and others including Daniel Barringer
proved that the crater was formed by impact of a huge metallic meteor,
the first and best preserved of (so far) about 150 such craters on
Earth to be identified. The main evidence was the large quantities of
meteoric nickel-iron rock fragments found in the crater and scattered
for several miles around, this being a substance not found naturally in
this location. Current theories place the size of the meteor
as 150 feet in diameter, and its weight at 300,000 tons.
The largest surviving fragment, viewable in the visitor
center, weighs 3/4 tons.
Larry and I are standing by this meteor . .. it weighs over 1000 pounds
People are only alowed to go to the botton of the crater with special permission
There is an hour long guided hike around the crater (that we did not do) and three different viewing platforms that would not be such a big deal if you were not at nearly 6000 feet elevation . . . oxygen seemed to be in short supply.
There is a nice theater that shows the history of the crater every 30 minutes . . . a grand gift shop and a Subway to grab a bite before hitting the highway again . . . all belonging to the Barringer Ranch.
