January 26 – Meteorites
The best preserved meteorite impact crater on earth can be found near Flagstaff, Arizona. This impressive hole in the ground is almost a mile across and 570 feet deep. Yet, it took over 150 years to acknowledge that it was indeed caused by the impact of a meteor on the earth. From its discovery in the early 1800’s, until 1960, it was thought to be the result of volcanic activity.
Grove Gilbert first studied the crater for the US geological survey in 1891, but he found no evidence of an iron meteorite or any magnetic anomaly in the area that would testify to the presence of an underground meteorite. Therefore, he concluded the crater was the result of a volcanic steam explosion. Undeterred, a mining engineer named Daniel Barringer did not believe the report and spent 27 years, from 1903 -1930, looking for “an estimated 200 billion pounds of iron” that he believed must have been buried by the iron meteorite. He found nothing. It wasn’t until the rock compressions from similar craters and craters formed from nuclear testing were compared with the Barringer crater that scientists finally realized that the Barringer crater formed almost instantly by a rapid catastrophic impact.
The meteorite that caused the crater is estimated to have weighed 600 million pounds (not 200 billion), and it instantly vaporized upon impact leaving only traces of iron deep underneath the crater. This event would have happened after Noah’s Flood of about 4400 years ago, for the crater goes through several of the top sedimentary layers laid down by the Flood. Our entire solar system was apparently pummeled with meteors. Just look at all the meteorite impacts on the moon’s surface! The moon’s craters could have happened either during its formation or during the Flood of Noah. If the meteors pummeled our solar system during the Flood, perhaps the thousands of feet of water covering the earth’s surface during this time explain why there aren’t more meteorite craters apparent around the globe. The meteor to hit Arizona’s Barringer Crater was one of the last stragglers to hit the earth – long after the Flood ended.
Job 26:11
KJV: The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof.
NIV: The pillars of the heavens quake, aghast at his rebuke.
Reference
“The First Proven Meteorite Crater”. Answers Magazine. April 2016. 11(2)43.
Learn More
Barringer Meteor Crater, Arizona
Recommended
Book: Taking Back Astronomy, Jason Lisle