|
Evidence
of Vast Antarctic Crater Created by Meteorite is Reported
United Press
International
INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 23 --- An Indiana scientist says he has found evidence
that an enormous crater near the South Pole was created by possibly the
largest meteorite ever to have struck Earth.
"We now
have evidence that a crater comparable to the largest craters that exist
on the Moon exists on Earth," Dr. John Weihaupt, associate dean of
science at Indiana University -- Purdue University Indianapolis, told the
25th International Geological Congress in Sydney, Australia, Sunday.
He said his
evidence showed that a crater one-half mile deep and 150 miles wide lies
beneath a mile-thick layer of ice covering northern Antarctica.
Dr. Weihaupt
calculated the crater would have been formed by a meteorite 2½ to 3 ¾
miles across, weighing 13 billion tons, which hit Earth at a speed of
44,000 mph some 600,000 to 700,000 years ago.
It is four times
larger than any other meteorite crater found on Earth.
The scientists
said the impact might have caused earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and
perhaps temporary climatic changes from dust that shaded out some of the
sun's heat and light.
Dr. Weihaupt
said he gathered his data in 1959 and 1960 on a U. S. expedition to
Victoria Land, Antarctica.
----------
AUGUST
23, 1976
Relative to HPL's AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS |
