The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-03
Second Section
Science
DAVID DIETZ=
serIpp.-Howard seI.nee EdItor

a
~ earth we're responsible for the
formation Of the meteorlc crater in
Arizona and the great group of era
ters in Siberia.
That is the opinion Of DR.
Charles P. Olivir. director Of
the Flower observatory Of the
University Of Pennsylvania, and one
of the worlds chief authorities upon
the subject OF comets and meteors
Meteor crater. or canon diabolo,
II it is also called. is a hole nearly
2 round and with steep sides, about
1900 feet in diameter. The rim rises
lbs feet above the surrounding ter
ritory The interior sinks to a depth
of more than 500 feet. Masses Of
meteoric material have been found
in the neighborhood of the crater,
some Of them five miles away In
1920 a shaft sunk into the crater
struck meteoric material at a depth
OF 1900 feet II is believed that the
main mass of material lies buried
here.
The Siberian craters are in a
sparsely inhabited region between
two rivers about 400 miles north IF
the Trans-Siberian railway They
consist of about 200 craters varying
in diameter from three to $50 feet
These are within an area about two
miles in diameter
A ROUND this central area for
n about fifteen miles in every di-
rection, the trees are scared black,
uprOoted and lying so as to face
away. from the central area. 1t is
clear that they were blown out of
the ground and thrown down by
some terrific explosion in the CEN
trail area.
Meteor Crater was formed some
thousands of years ago and so we
have no knowledge of the event it
self other than what can be de
Quoted from Indian legends. Bot
the Siberian craters were formed
during the present century and so
The Siberian craterS were formed
on June 30, 1908 The explosion was
registered as an earthquake upon
seismographS and as a sudden wave
Of air pressure upon barometers
thousands of miles away.
Accounts by native fungus who
were near the spot and by Rus
slams who we're at a considerable
distance from it, agree in main de
tails Something came flashing
through the heavens and from the
spot where the collision took place
4 felt the heat and were knocked from
their feet by the wave Of air pres
sure.
TT has been supposed generally that
L both the Arizona crater and the
Siberian craters represented the
fall of meteorites. But DR.. Olivier
thinks that in both cases the phe-
nOmena were too gigantic for that.
He feels certain that in each case it
was a small comet that struck the
earth.
His views upon this subject and
many other fascinating phases of
the study of comets and meteors are
set forth in two excellent books en-
titled Comets and "Meteors.'
These fine books, upon somewhat
neglected fields of astronomy. are
we'll worth the attention of all stu
dents of nature.
1t is impossible to separate COM
cts entirely from meteors, and SO
the reader will find some discus
sion of comets in "Meteors' and
some discussion of meteors in
Comets"
<Both books are published by Will
Eams e. wilkins.
"Meteors" is a larger book and
more technically written. 1t is
priced at Sc. Comets" is $3.50. l
would recommend Comets" for
youthful reader, or for the adult
whose interest in astronomy is that
of the la5man.
'Meteors" will be more interesting
to an amateur of advanced standing