Pages

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Meteorite Still Has Impact 75 Million Years Later

Seventy-five million years ago a meteorite slammed into present-day Iowa.  The rock was one and a half miles wide (2.4 km) and created a crater twenty-four miles (38.6 km) wide.  The resulting upheaval resulted in the local geology being a mixture of water, surface rock, and deep crust.

This weird geography is creating present-day problems as the 1,600-some locals of Manson, Iowa are looking for a water source to drill a well to quench their thrust for water for personal, business, and agricultural use.  Normally finding a location for a well in the Midwest would be pretty easy but no one knows where in the crater area one can find a large enough water source or milled-up rocks.

Interestingly, somewhere near the center of the crater is Iowa's only natural source of soft water.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hard to imagine so close to 'home'.
South Dakota