"Excuse me, what is that giant crater in Oregon's back yard?" I pointed out to a panel of geologists at a University of Oregon Natural History Museum rock identification event April 28th. I homeschool my son, and had taken him to the museum for an educational experience. The experts got excited. Anything THAT BIG, we ought to know about it, but it's news to us! Prof. Mark Reed, UO geologist referred it to a UO specialist currently in the UK. Bart Wills of the Deschutes National Forest Service also looked into it and sent references indicating a perpendicular system of faults. Part of the crater corresponds to Walker Rim, which to date is classified as a graben fault. New satellite imagery 2013 Terrametrics, used in Google Earth, reveals that it is part of a caldera. Interestingly, it shares the same latitude as Craters of the Moon in Idaho and is aligned with the Lava Beds National Monument in California. The mystery crater dwarfs Crater Lake and is situated central to Newberry Crater also. Could this have been the mother volcano of both features?
There are many interesting petroglyphs in the area, and famous ancient sandals, the oldest shoes in the world, 10,000 years old [UO museum image] were discovered in the vicinity. The Paisley Caves, [UO research] carved by Pleistocene era waves from Summer Lake contain the oldest human DNA in the Americas. Fort Rock, Hole-in-the-Ground, and Crack-in-the-Ground are also in this region.
Oregon had a very dramatic volcanic history, including the world's largest lava flow along the Columbia River. It must have awed and inspired indigenous residents!
--celeste.horner @gmail.com, 5-7-2013. 5-23-2013
[ 2023 update: Explored Forest Service 200? New gravel road to the area. Curves around like a volcano, rises in elevation like a mountain. Elevation drops towards center of the curve. Still exploring this mystery. ring vents, Mount Mazama ]
5-13-2013. Aha! Someone else (David K. Lynch, Thule Scientific) noticed this crater: NASA EARTH SCIENCE PICTURE OF THE DAY September 27, 2007: Mysterious Circular Structure Near Chemult, Oregon dave at thulescientific.com
5-13-2013 Terry Westerman includes the Walker Rim crater in his collection of impacts around the world However nearly all impacts have one side more pronounced than the other, due to the angle of impact. Impact Craters in Oregon Terry Westerman twest tampicoventures.com
Because one side of mystery crater is more pronounced, it is visible from space, and so is the splatter, I'm beginning to return to idea that it is an impact crater which caused volcanic activity around it. This would be a world class event!
This crater is more pronounced than the Iowa crater discussed on Huffington news. They discuss how impacts can be investigated with gravimetric analysis, conductivity studies and core samples.
EVIDENCE FOR METEOR IMPACT CRATER
TESTING THE HYPOTHESIS
Aerial image from geogdata.csun.edu. Mystery Crater left center, Crater Lake top left.
mystery crater beyond Crater Lake?
mystery crater and Crater Lake
Crater Lake and partial mystery crater
Figure 1: Newberry Caldera, Oregon: A Preliminary Report
Monday, May 20 2013
Impact spherules as a record of an ancient heavy bombardment of Earth. Nature 485, 75-77 (03 May 2012). Johnson and Melosh. Asteroids hitting Earth typically vaporize a mass of target rock comparable to the projectile’s mass. As this vapour expands in a large plume or fireball, it cools and condenses into molten droplets called spherules5. For asteroids larger than about ten kilometres in diameter, these spherules are deposited in a global layer.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130520185524.htm?">Science News May 20 2013 Something -- global-scale combustion caused by a comet scraping our planet's atmosphere or a meteorite slamming into its surface -- scorched the air, melted bedrock and altered the course of Earth's history. Exactly what it was is unclear, but this event jump-started what Kenneth Tankersley, an assistant professor of anthropology and geology at the University of Cincinnati, calls the last gasp of the last ice age. Tankersley is an archaeological geologist. He uses geological techniques, in the field and laboratory, to solve archaeological questions. "Evidence for Deposition of 10 Million Tonnes of Impact Spherules Across Four Continents 12,800 Years Ago," which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sumer_anunnaki/reptiles/reptiles28.htm
http://uonews.uoregon.edu/archive/news-release/2012/9/challengers-clovis-age-impact-theory-missed-key-protocols-new-study-find
Forest Service Topo Maps
Forest Service - Gold Lookout Butte
Wednesday, May 22 2013
Thunderegg. State Rock of Oregon
Thunder Eggs
www.thundereggs.co.uk
www.thundereggs.co.uk thundereggs @eibonvale.co.uk
Thundereggs are an alchemically exciting idea -- seem to be fusion of the elements, earth, air, water, and fire! and perhaps sound!
An analog for planet formation? Wonder if any of meteoric origin. Have one, seems to have seams formed by convection? Each an individual treasure....
bubble of lava suddenly cooled in sea water?
http://thundereggs.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/dscn9523sm.jpg?w=570&h=457
Tektites - inkstone of the Thundergod in Chinese culture. Crystalearth
Tektites - origin subject of spirited controversy
glass produced by meteorite impact
Thursday, May 23 2012
Wetumpka impact crater is horseshoe shaped
Looking into hypothesis that Walker Rim Crater, Hole in the Ground, and Fort Rock are both impact craters....
Hole-in-the-Ground and Big Hole are two nearby maars nearly one mile in diameter formed by steam explosion. They resemble impact craters formed by meteorites, but lack the heavy metal signature residues of space objects.
Hole in the Ground is a physical feature found near Fort Rock. It is located about 6-8 miles directly behind the rock as it is viewed from the museum. Although some would like to believe that Hole In The Ground was caused by a meteoroid, it is a maar, a volcanic crater formed by steam explosions. The crater is approximately 300 feet deep and a mile wide.
Boise fireball
Hunt (maps)
Monday, May 27 2013
Contacted Cascadia Meteorite Laboratory, Portland State University and the Meteorite Men!
Saturday, Jun 8 2013
Acquired Bounty Hunter Pioneer 202 metal detector with gold nugget finder for $250+. Will beep for small gold coin, but is blind to thumbsized nickel iron meteorites! Rock guru Robert Wells, Five Elements referred me to the Jim Nelson, Nelson RockyFeller, dealer for Whites GMT. The low end Whites had the same performance as my Bounty Hunter, but the GMT detected the meteorites and also gold and nuggets in the box that the pioneer didn't see.
Increasingly satisfied that mystery crater is a volcanic feature. Perhaps there is a hot spot trail linking it to Craters of the Moon and Yellowstone.
Found other crater-like features to investigate, however.
1961 Analysis of Hole in the Ground and Fort Rock ...if this crater were the result of a meteoritic impact explosion, fragments of nickel-iron and metallic droplets or their oxidized products would be present in abundance on and about the rim, as is the case at the Arizona Meteorite Crater...
Diamond Craters, OR Peculiar spherical lava balls in the low rims of most craters of explosive origin. Late basalt and ejectamenta of the latest Pleistocene and recent age.
spectacular oregon landscapes summitpost.org
Shattercone, Beaverhead Crater, 8th largest on earth
Washington University in St. Louis meteorite guide
moqui marbles grand staircase national monument http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfoCqrJdB40
Last update: 2013-5-27 (map with Goose Lake meteorite), 2013-5-23 (Wetumpka, tektites), 2013-5-22 (thundereggs), 2013-5-9, celeste.horner @ gmail.com
