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Hints of cosmic crash at Serpent Mound
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Submitted by Andy B on Tuesday, 12 April 2005 Page Views: 2780
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 Country: United States County: Great Lakes Midwest Internal Links: 
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  Sifting through rocks snagged from twin boreholes punched deep into the planet's crust, scientists have detected an unearthly substance hidden for eons in Ohio's basement. And its presence 1,412 feet beneath the forests and farmlands near Serpent Mound in south-central Ohio - already one of Earth's most mysterious manmade structures - adds to a puzzle shrouded in legend and lore for centuries.
When scientists peered into the geo-strata that emerged from beneath the mound, they were confronted with pure, weird data. Under their microscope, they saw quartz crystals with flaws like those found at nuclear test sites and in moon rocks brought back by astronauts.
It pointed toward a massive energy burst that left behind telltale traces of a cosmic crash.
Now, those findings are rattling through the world of geology, shaking up long-held conceptions and misconceptions about Ohio's distant past.
"I think we can say with authority today that this is an impact from a meteorite," said Mark T. Baranoski, a state geologist. "It affected the region in a spectacular way."
Rock samples from beneath the mound contain significantly higher than normal concentrations of iridium, an extremely rare metal. Because it is so heavy, iridium seldom shows up anywhere but near the planet's molten core.
At Serpent Mound, the levels measured were 10 times beyond what is usually present in the Earth's crust.
Occasionally, volcanoes bring it up in lava. But there are no lava fields in Ohio. So the questions started. Where did the iridium-rich rocks come from?
While iridium is scarce on Earth, the silver-gray metal is common in asteroids and comets.
In other words, it often is a strong sign that the sky has fallen.
Geologists, including researchers from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, describe the recent discovery as powerful new evidence that Serpent Mound sits upon a slightly oblong crater created when a massive extraterrestrial object slammed into Earth.
More: The Plain Dealer - Cleveland, Ohio
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| "Hints of cosmic crash at Serpent Mound" | Login/Create an Account | 1 comment |
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Re: Hints of cosmic crash at Serpent Mound (Score: 1)
by astronomer on Thursday, 14 April 2005
(User Info | Send a Message) | The Sudbury, Ontario, impact crater is not that far away from Ohio. It is currently being exploited for nickel and other heavy metals buried millions of years ago when a metal-rich astreoid slammed into North America. There are many other impact basins on the Laurentian Shield, Lake Manicouagan probably being the largest.
On three recent trips to Ohio, flying over the Great Lakes into Chicago from Montreal, I looked for secondary impact craters east of Sudbury. There are some small circular lakes on this ancient landscape but it's difficult to know if they are impact features. | [ Reply to This ]
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