Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Meteor Crater Arizona

Meteor Crater ArizonaMeteor Crater is one of the youngest and best-preserved impact craters on Earth. The crater formed roughly 50,000 years ago when a 30-meter-wide, iron-rich meteor weighing 100,000 tons struck the Arizona desert at an estimated 20 kilometers per second.
High Resolution Image. The resulting explosion exceeded the combined force of today's nuclear arsenals and created a 1.1-kilometer-wide, 200-meter-deep crater.

Meteor Crater is a simple crater since it has no central peak or rim terraces. The crater formed in layered Paleozoic age sedimentary rocks, some of which are exposed in the nearby Grand Canyon. These rocks have been uplifted and in some cases overturned at the crater's raised rim. Debris sliding and subsequent erosion have partially filled the bottom of the crater with minor amounts of rim material and sediment.

The heavily cratered history of the Moon indicates that Earth also experienced many impact events early in its history. The processes of erosion and plate tectonics have combined to erase nearly all Earth's craters. To date, only about 150 impact craters have been identified on Earth, and most of those are severely eroded or buried by later rock units. The origin of this classic, simple meteorite impact crater was long the subject of controversy.

The discovery of fragments of the Canyon Diablo meteorite, including fragments within the breccia deposits that partially fill the structure, and a range of shock metamorphic features in the target sandstone proved its impact origin. Target rocks include Paleozoic carbonates and sandstones; these rocks were overturned just outside the rim during ejection. The hummocky deposits just beyond the rim are remnants of the ejecta blanket. This aerial view shows the dramatic expression of the crater in the arid landscape. The crater is named for Daniel Moreau Barringer, a mining entrepeneur who championed an impact origin for the crater early in the 20th.

Image Credit: D. Roddy (U.S. Geological Survey), Lunar and Planetary Institute. USGS-authored or produced data and information are considered to be in the U.S. public domain.

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Oblique aerial photograph looking northwest of Meteor Crater, Arizona; photo by David J. Roddy, USGS, Branch of Astrogeology. USGS Open-File Report 2005-1190, Figure 001. ID. Project Apollo (1960-1973) 001. pap00001

Sunday, September 27, 2009

October The book of Days

October The book of daysTitle The book of days: a miscellany of popular antiquities in connection with the calendar, including anecdote, biography, & history, curiosities of literature and oddities of human life and character, Volume 2. written by the Scottish author Robert Chambers (10 July 1802 – 17 March 1871) and first published in 1832.
This image is in the public domain in the United States, where Works published prior to 1978 were copyright protected for a maximum of 75 years. See Circular 1 "COPYRIGHT BASICS" PDF from the U.S. Copyright Office. Works published before 1924 are now in the public domain.

and also in countries that figure copyright from the date of death of the artist (post mortem auctoris in this case Robert Chambers (10 July 1802 – 17 March 1871) and that most commonly run for a period of 50 to 70 years from December 31st of that year.

The Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in Connection with the Calendar, Including Anecdote, Biography, & History, Curiosities of Literature and Oddities of Human Life and Character, Robert Chambers, Editor: Robert Chambers (1802-1871)
Publisher: W. & R. Chambers, 1832.

Then came October full of merry glee;
For yet his noule was totty of the must,
Which he was treading in the wine-fat's see,
And of the joyous oyle, whose gentle gust
Made him so frolic and so full of Lust:
Upon a dreadful Scorpion he did ride,
The same which by Diana's doom unjust
Slew great Orion; and coke by his side
He had his ploughing-share and coulter ready tyde.
Spenser