About 50,000 years ago a huge meteor smashed into the vast, flat plain near what is now the city of Flagstaff. It is estimated that it took 10 seconds for the fast-moving meteor to enter Earth's atmosphere and crash. Travelling at about 43,500 km per hour (27,000 miles per hour), or 18 kms (11 miles) per second, it crashed with what would have been a huge flash. The meteor would have been about 56 metres or 150 feet wide, and would have struck with a blast greater than a bomb of more than 20 million tons of explosive. Shockwaves would have radiated out across the plain for several miles. The meteor would have broken into pieces, and small fragments would have melted and then hardened into tiny balls which are buried in the soil.
 |
| On right, there are people standing on a viewing platform |
The result was a giant hole in the ground, 214 metres (700 feet) deep and more than 1220 metres (4000 feet) across. Over 170 million tons of rock were thrown out to form a blanket of rubble onto and around the rim.
NASA astronauts were trained for missions to the moon and Mars in the crater, and vehicles for use on the surfaces of the moon and Mars are tested there.
No comments:
Post a Comment