Huge impact crater found in Egypt

[twocanntwo]

thought you all might like to see this.<br /><br />http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4779482.stm<br />

 

[dragon04]

I'll be very interested to see some more science done on site.<br /><br />Depending on how old the crater is, it might have interesting implications regarding hominid evolution. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <br /><br />I had to edit this reply. After a little digging, that impact site is roughly on the same latitude as the Chicxilub impact crater. Obviously, without some geology done, the two events can't be connected, but it's food for thought for the following.<br /><br />I've read some theories and seen on TV that there perhaps was more than one KT event that did the dinosaurs in and were roughly 300,000 years apart, depending on which geological camp you choose to believe. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

Oh, coolness!<br /><br />The article points out that the crater's sheer size may have helped it evade detection for so long. That's quite likely. Similarly, the Yellowstone caldera evaded detection despite very focused searches for a volcano in the region largely because of its size. Some things are so big it's easy to lose the forest for the trees. I wonder exactly how old this crater is? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[derekmcd]

Makes one wonder how many we have yet to discover. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div> </div><br /><div><span style="color:#0000ff" class="Apple-style-span">"If something's hard to do, then it's not worth doing." - Homer Simpson</span></div> </div>

 

[mlorrey]

"Depending on how old the crater is, it might have interesting implications regarding hominid evolution."<br /><br />Why yes, I can see where the big monolith once stood....<br /><br />This crater is only 19 miles wide. The KT crater is hundreds of miles wide. The dust from this impact would, at least, produce a Pinatubo-like summer cooling. Given wind patterns, it might have dumped enough ash across northern africa to have triggered a major ecological transformation. I'm looking forward to the dating report.

 

[dragon04]

Seeing that all evidence points to Africa being the cradle of our species, the effects of an impact that created a 19 mile wide crater might not be so insignificant to the continent and its emerging hominids. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>

 

[silylene old]

A crater that big would have devastating multi-decade effects on a region about half the size of Africa. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>

 

[mlorrey]

Ah, but you are forgetting the long term effects of all that kryptonite in the area....

 

[cosmictalk]

maybe that is why its desert! <br /><br />

 

[astroguard]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p><b>mlorrey</b> wrote: <i>This crater is only 19 miles wide. The KT crater is hundreds of miles wide.</i><p><hr /></p></p></blockquote>The Chicxulub crater is variously estimated to be 100 miles to 125 miles wide, not <i>"hundreds of miles"</i>. Even so, it represents a much-greater impact than does the Kebira crater.