The wave-from-hell tore rocks, sharks' teeth, sand and boulders from the bottom of the sea as it went. Churning up the seabed to a depth of 40 feet, one of the monster tsunamis roared across what we now call the Gulf of Mexico. These "ripples" were 150 to 300 feet high – up to as tall as a football field is long. The enormous energy generated by the impact also created huge tidal waves radiating out from the area of collision – giant versions of the ripples that form on the surface of a lake when someone tosses a rock into the water. Called "ejecta," this melt rock was thickest near the point of impact, becoming patchier farther away. Helens, by comparison, released less than a third of a cubic mile of ash.) After several months of drifting around in the atmosphere, the finer particles began settling back to Earth, covering the entire planet with a thin layer of dust.Īnother 5,000 cubic miles of melted and crushed rock was ejected from the crater, then fell back to Earth in a matter of hours within 3,000 miles of the impact in all directions. About 400 cubic miles of debris were carried upward by the resulting fireball. Material was blasted out of the crater at 50 times the speed of sound. The impact of the six-mile-wide space maverick created an underwater crater more than 25 miles deep and 112 miles in diameter – farther across than the distance between Austin and Waco. Its surface white-hot from the friction caused by its plunge through the atmosphere, the giant crashed into the sea on what is now the northern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. Please refer to their site for additional information.Īlways keep in mind that rocks and minerals must be examined in person for proper identification.The meteorite hurtled toward the big, blue planet, reaching speeds of as much as 150,000 miles per hour. These tips for identifying a meteorite were adapted from this excellent guide from the University of New Mexico Meteorite Museum. A dense rock that leaves a black or red streak probably contains the iron minerals magnetite or hematite, respectively, neither of which are typically found in meteorites. Streak: if you scratch a meteorite on an unglazed ceramic surface, it should not leave a streak.Bubbles: volcanic rocks or metallic slag on Earth often have bubbles or vesicles in them, but meteorites do not.Light-colored crystals: Quartz is a common, light-colored crystal in Earth’s crust, but it is not found on other bodies in the solar system.Fusion crust: stony meteorites typically have a thin crust on their surface where it melted as it passed through the atmosphere.Instead, they have an irregular shape with unusual pits like finger prints in their surface called “regmaglypts.” Unusual shape: iron-nickel meteorites are rarely rounded.For “stony” meteorites, a magnet might not stick, but if you hang the magnet by a string, it will be attracted. Magnetic: Since most meteorites contain metallic iron, a magnet will often stick to them.Density: Meteorites are usually quite heavy for their size, since they contain metallic iron and dense minerals.Meteorites have several properties that help distinguish them from other rocks: They are very rare, but many people find unusual rocks or pieces of metal and wonder if they might have found a meteorite. Meteorites are fragments of rock or metal that fall to Earth from space.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |