Barringer Meteor Crater
Barringer Meteor Crater is located in Arizona State between Flagstaff and Winslow. It is a confirmed impact crater and it is small enough that the effects of this impact can be studied on the ground and then be compared to other impacts.
A very wide view of the area shows lines in the geography radiating from the impact site. These were possibly caused by meteor fragments that blasted off when the meteor hit the ground. The direction of these rays also suggests that the meteor came in from the southwest. This image is from an apparent altitude of about 300 miles. The image is linked to a larger image for more definition.
The crater is about 0.37 miles in radius, or
0.73 miles in diameter, just over 1 km. The center has been marked and
surveyed many times, but is generally taken as the center of the best
fit circle, as shown above. However it is not just the crater that
defines this impact. The crater is 560 feet deep ( 170 m). The force of
an impact that blew a hole in the Earth of this size is far more than
the forces of all the bombs ever exploded by man. Yet this is a
relatively small impact crater. The effects of this impact were felt
world wide.The impact produced circular seismic waves in the
surrounding earth which reformed the Earth according to those waves.
With a wider view the ejecta pattern can
be seen. The yellow line describes the pattern from Southwest to
Northeast, in the same direction as the line between the two center
points. This indicates that the meteor came in from the Southwest. The
Center of Impact then, would be the place where the meteor first hit
the Earth. The larger circle at 1.24 miles radius, shows the first
instance of the seismic circles from the impact. These seismic waves
radiate out from the center in concentric circles, similar to the
ripples in the water if you throw a stone into a still pond.
