Yellowstone Meteor Impact

Advisory
If you arrived here by any means other than from the Index of Impacts, it is suggested that you
start at the Introduction to gain an understanding of what follows.

Yellowstone Impact Site

    Yellowstone National Park (circled) is a huge volcanic cauldron that sees millions of visitors each year. It is full of hot springs and geysers and is being constantly monitored for underground magma flows. It appears to have been made by a large asteroid which broke the crust of the Earth. This allows water to seep in, get heated, then be blown back out again. The actual strike point is at the south western part of the park, such that the asteroid came in from the southwest at a steep angle. This accounts for the raised mountains in the northern part of the impact site.
     The asteroid was probably large, dense and fast moving to account for the high surrounding mountains and the relatively small crater. Rather than blowing material in all directions to make a ring of hills or mountains, it put an indentation in the crust of the Earth. This impact is notable for the likelihood that it caused the crack in the Earth which accounts for many of the volcanoes of the Cascade Mountains and the San Andres Fault in California, from which frequent earthquakes occur. It also seems to have aligned the southeastern coast of Texas. These are shown below.
      What we are looking for with the seismic circles below are geographical features that closely align with the circle. These features were caused by the circular seismic shock wave created by the impact as it expanded across the Earth.

Images outlined in blue are linked to larger images.

A closer view of the Yellowstone Impact.

The Yellowstone meteor came in from the south southeast.

This impact came in from the south southwest as depicted by the arrow. This meteor probably was relatively dense and traveling at high speeds. It punched a hole in the Earth and formed the crater, circled in yellow. The surrounding mountains were raised and the interior area was left relatively low with lakes and hills.
The white circle highlighting the seismic wave ring is shown at 140 miles radius. The various geographical alignments are shown by the yellow arrows. The center of impact is where the meteor first hit. The seismic waves emanate from there. This is not the same as the center as the crater. The center of the crater is the center of the ejected matter. The reason for the difference is that the meteor did not come straight down, but at an angle. Another example of this can be seen at the Barringer Crater.

The Yellowstone impact produced a shatter pattern around the center of impact.

This ring does not appear to be as uniform as other seismic circles, and a study of the rivers and other phenomena in this area indicates that this is actually a shatter pattern from the impact. A seismic circle wave aligns the geography in arcs which are noted easily, and align closely with the circle. This area however, while the rivers follow the circle, they are broken in straighter lines. The straight yellow lines follow the various land forms around the impact site in an attempt to simplify the area geography.
The difference here is that the Earth was shattered, similar to what you would find if you threw a rock into the window of a car, as opposed to the rolling concentric circles like the ripples from the rock thrown into the still pond. This shatter pattern surrounds the center of impact and expands outward from there. This would be consistent with a large, medium density impact, where the impactor shattered the surface and made an indentation in the Earth. The above image is expandable to 2365 x 2057 pixels.

This is the 130 mile radius seismic circle from the Yellowstone East Impact. This image is primarily for proof of impact at the Yellowstone East site. It appears from this that the Mountain range on the south of the circle, the Wind River Range, may have been pivoted from a Northeast/Southwest orientation to its' present position by this impact. This image is linked to a larger image for a detail of this circle.

A seismic circle at 40 miles radius from the center of impact.

At 40 miles radius from the center of impact, a seismic circle presents itself. The way these seismic circles contour the land is definitive evidence of a meteor impact. The North and South sections of this circle are shown in more detail to the right.

The north section of the 40 mile circle

At 40 miles south.

The Yellowstone Meteor Impact seismic circle at 100 miles distance

The 100 mile radius circle. This image is linked to a larger image for more detail.

The Yellowstone Meteor Impact seismic circle at 125 miles distance

At 125 miles radius.

The Yellowstone Meteor Impact seismic circle at 210 miles distance.

The 210 mile radius circle. The North and South sections of this circle are shown in more detail to the right.

The Yellowstone Meteor Impact seismic circle at 210 miles distance North section.

210 miles radius, North Section

The Yellowstone Meteor Impact seismic circle at 210 miles distance South section.

210 miles radius, South Section

The Yellowstone Meteor Impact seismic circle at 265 miles distance.

At 265 miles radius. This image is linked to a larger image for more detail.

The Yellowstone Meteor Impact seismic circle at 265 miles distance North section.

265 miles radius, North section.

The Yellowstone Meteor Impact seismic circle at 265 miles distance West section.

265 miles radius, West section.

The Yellowstone Meteor Impact seismic circle at 265 miles distance south section.

265 miles radius, South section.

The Yellowstone Meteor Impact seismic circle at 340 miles distance, North section.

At 330 miles radius to the Northeast.

The Yellowstone Meteor Impact seismic circle at 380 miles distance Northeast section.

At 380 miles radius to the Northeast.

The 565 mile radius seismic circle. Linked to a larger image. This circle follows the Cascade Mountain Range, a line of vulcanic peaks. See the Eurasian Impact and the Kilimanjaro Impact for other examples of this.

The North section of the 565 mile radius seismic circle of the Yellowstone Impact. Linked to a larger image.

The South section of the 565 mile radius seismic circle of the Yellowstone Impact. Linked to a larger image.

The Yellowstone Meteor Impact seismic circle at 760 miles distance

At 760 miles distance from the center of impact, this seismic circle falls in line with the San Andreas Fault in California. Linked to a larger image. More detail to the right.