[meteorite-list] NPA 09-14-1995 Evidence Points To Meteor Forming Chesapeake Bay, C. Wylie Poag

[MARK BOSTICK]

Paper: The Capital
City: Annapolis, Maryland
Date: Thursday, September 14, 1995
Page: A4

Evidence points to meteor forming Chesapeake Bay

     WASHINGTON (AP) - Thirty five million years ago, a meteor crashed into 
the Earth burned plants and animals and caused a giant wave, forming the 
Chesapeake Bay according in a theory by some scientists.
     Scientists this week presented new evidence that age of the worst 
natural disasters contributed to the formation of the Chesapeake.
     For several years scientists have been gathering evidence that a 
55-mile wide meteor crater underlies the lower Chesapeake Bay and sea floor 
nearby.
     C. Wylie Poag of the US Geological Survey, is leading studies of the 
Chesapeake crater and possible craters of the same age of the New Jersey 
coast and Siberia. Scientists believe the craters could all be from chunks 
of the same meteor.
     Whatever hit the Chesapeake was at least a mile in diameter and hurtled 
through space at up to 45 miles per second before bashing into the Earth, 
according to scientists.
     What it hit, it almost certainly vaporized, melting part of the Earth's 
crust, sending hot jets of gas and molten rock miles into the upper 
atmosphere.
     "If it happened today, Washington would probably cease to exist," said 
Christian Koeberl, one of the group of scientists who presented the new 
evidence Monday at a conference at the Smithsonian Institution.
     Scientists believe the resulting explosion would have incinerated 
planets and animals living near shore before a massive wave, or tsunami, 
caused by the explosion, hit the coast.
     "Instant barbecue." Mr. Koeberl, a geochemist at the University of 
Vienna, told The Washington Post.
     Mr. Poag has mapped the crater which in centered on Cape Charles, Va. 
near the lower tip of the Delmarva Peninsula and extends offshore.
     The zone in which rock was affected by the impact may extend as far as 
Washington and Richard, Va.
      Mr. Koeberl demonstrated rocks near the crater show deformations that 
happen when shock waves traveling through rock are powerful enough to alter 
its crystal structure.
     No force in the normal course of the Earth's history to produce such 
changes, he said.
     The rocks are therefore considered conclusive evidence of a meteor's 
impact.
     Scientists don't believe the meteor was solely responsible for the 
Chesapeake's formation.
     "I think the impact did serve as a template for later development of 
the bay," Mr. Poag said. "But it's indirect."
     The Susquehanna, Rappahannock, Potomac, York and James rivers developed 
after the meteor hit and eventually converged toward a single spot along the 
road.
     Mr. Poag speculates the low ground caused by the meteor crater drew the 
rivers toward that spot.
     When at the end of the last ice age the ocean began rising, it flooded 
back into the rivers' valleys, drowning their mouths and creating the 
Chesapeake, scientists said.

(end)

Clear Skies,
Mark Bostick
Wichita, Kansas
http://www.meteoritearticles.com
http://www.kansasmeteoritesociety.com
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