[meteorite-list] Impact Crater in New Mexico

[Yinan Wang]

Hi Abe,

The first site is most likely sinkholes and ponds from sinkholes. It
follows the stratigraphy of the land too well.

At the second site, the craters look more man-made and probably mining
test pits. Although if you go 1000 feet WSW of your arrow, there seems
to be something more naturally crater-shaped...

- Yinan

On Tue, Jan 4, 2011 at 5:50 PM, Guenther <abe.guenther at mnsi.net> wrote:
> Hi List,
>
> I hope everyone is having a good new year.
>
> I plan to go on another meteorite hunting trip to New Mexico soon before the
> Tucson show. Would you guys think that this is an impact crater?
> 32°21'54.39"N 103°23'47.50"W. I remember reading about it on a site but it
> appears that there are just too many craters in the area to all be impact
> craters. If they aren’t impact craters what would be the possibility they
> are ancient ponds for wildlife? I would imagine that as West Texas and New
> Mexico dried up, any remaining wet ground would become extremely populated
> with wild life and over centuries these locations would become deep ponds.
>
> I remember such a pond in West Texas where I grew up. Natives to the area
> told me it was a place that buffalo came to drink and cool down. It was also
> a pretty big impression in the ground and if you didn’t know better, you
> would think it was an impact crater. I would imagine that a big heard of
> buffalo could make a pretty lasting impression in the ground.
>
> How about these 34° 0'51.00"N 105° 8'41.46"W? I notice a huge scatter of
> craters. Is much known about these or what they are? There are a lot of
> these ancient scars for several miles around. If they aren't impact craters
> it would be interesting to know what they are.
>
> Abe Guenther
>
>
>
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