Evening star., 1942-05-03
Science Reconstructs
Events When Mighty
Meteor Hits Earth
Wide Bosin 'SpIoshed'
In Texas Gives Hint
Of Impacts Force
BY HOWARD w. BLAKESLEE.

BY HOWARD w. BLAKESLEE.
Wide World Science Editor.
AUSTIN, Tex, May 2.-The solie
earth splashed like water when thu
big meteor hit near Odessa, Tex.
That was thousands of years ago
Today the incredible things thai
happened have just come to light.
The meteor, about the size of 8
garage, mostly solid iron, drove
straight down to rest 1854 feet under
the surface. Drills have located il
and given the approximate size
They tell the first complete story
Of what happens in the impact of q
great meteor. In all the world there
is but one known larger meteor,
which crashed to form Canyon
Diablo, Ariz. That record is still
obscure.
Many Groups Interested.
DR.. E. H. Sellards, University of
Texas geologist, heads the Odessa
meteor men. Excavation is done by
the Work Progress Administration
Assisting are the Humble Oil g. Re-
filming Co. and the American Ask
ania Corp, whose experts showed
that oil prospecting instruments also
can locate buried meteors.
Others are Ector County, aiding
IN excavating the underground mu-
scum; the State government and
some Texas landowners.
All around where this big chunk
fell, were thousands upon thou
sands of smaller meteors, loosely
grouped. enough perhaps to form
the head of small comet.
The big one hit at a speed of a
good many miles second. 1t might
have been expected to drill a more
or less clean hole, like rifle bullet.
So it did, for the last "a feet But
IN the first 80 feet it just splashed
everything. Some of the forces tnat
did this splashing are still mystify-
ing, even though their effects are
plainly recorded in the present rocks.
Left Giant Depression.
Unlike water, the sides of the
splashed earth did not close again.
The surface and near-surface rocks
just went up and out and to one
side. They left a shallow saucer.
500 feet across the top, 80 feet deep
at the middle.
These rocks in the Odessa region
were then, and are today, in level
layers, one on top of another, lika
superimposed floors. But at the
edges of the big splash they are
turned upward, some of them stand
ing vertically. AS if the big meteor
had shot upward from the depths
and emerged from earth, their up
ward bulge forms the rim of crater.
This saucer was almost completely
filled. The fill is in four different
layers.
OF the four the bottom one is all
but incredible. 1t is made entirely
Of rock flour 10 to 20 feet deep. The
-four is groundup rock and sand.
As Fine as Talcum Dust.
If woman should rub some of
this rock flour on her cheeks, she
would feel no grit. The flour would
remain on her face only as a deli
cate coating.
What is it doing in the bottom of
the saucer? Why didn't it puff
away, like the smoke it resembles
when tossed in the air?
Evidently some force in addition
to a giant hammer blow was at
work. The guess is that some sort
OF swift earthquake vibration broke
and ground up deep rocks and sand
so that not even a grain was left.
Next above the -four is a 10-foot-
deep layer of rocks, from the size of
auto hoods to pebbles. These are
rocks which were elected, straight
up into the air, to unknown heights
and fell back into the hole.
Their Identification is no guess
work. They match, geologically, the
rock strata of all the layers whose
broken edges form the saucer.
Third Layers Composition.
On top of them is another fill,
about so feet deep at its center. 1t is
rock and earth wind blown or
washed from the rim of the crater,
much Of it now cemented in the long
ages the filing took.
Above, topmost, is Is feet of diff
ferent kind of material, which gives
a clue to the distant date when the
meteor or comet fell. This layer
comes almost to the top of the
crater. 1t is dust blown in by winds,
silt brought by rains.
Right in its middle were found the
fossil bones of the long-extinct
American horse. He was as big as
present horses-but present horses
were imported after Columbus. The
extinct horse dates the last phase
of the crater at thousands of years
ago.
Below the bottom of the saucer
where the meteor drilled a straight,
narrow hole. shaft is being sunk to
the ruge piece Of iron. More chap
ters of the celestial story are ex-
pected along this shaft.
Drills Hit Solid Iron.
The drills have hit solid iron
which appears to be at least 10 feet
across. They indicate that the
chunk is not more than 18 feet
across its top. There is possibility
that it struck end on, and may be
longer in depth.
The large meteor is probably OF
the same composition as a small
piece of iron found near the crater
The small one was 9069 per cent
iron, 725 nickel, IA cobalt. .02 cop
per, 35 carbon, % phosphorus, o;
sulphur. and a trace of chromium.
The oil prospecting instrument:
Indicate numerous other meteor fall:
nearby. Tow have been verified by
digging. One is a crater more thar
100 feet distant, 10 feet across, l.
deep. In it are thousands Of small
meteors
The second is several hundred
feet from the main crater. FRS
digging indicates 1t may contain
5000 to 1000 small iron meteors.
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