Apr 13,
2007
Hole in the Ground
Central Oregon has two
craters roughly aligned East-West and about 10 kilometers
apart that have geologists guessing. But how reliable are
the guesses if geologists exclude the only explanation that
can account for the wide spectrum of geologic scars on other
planets and moons?
Pictured above
is the more perfectly formed "Hole in the Ground" crater.
(The other, "Big Hole", is about 10 km to the west, less
defined, and slightly bigger and deeper). One geologic
survey of “Hole in the Ground” measured a floor 150 meters
below and a rim 35 to 65 meters above original ground level,
with a diameter from rim to rim of about 1.6 kilometers.
Geological estimates of dating range from 13,500 to 100,000
years ago.
The two holes in
central Oregon are not particularly dramatic, just two minor
illustrations of a widespread dilemma faced by geologists.
One account of “Hole in the Ground” says: "Although it
closely resembles a crater caused by a meteor strike, it is
thought to be the result of volcanic activity simply because
it lacks the metal fragments found in meteor strikes". In
other words, there is no positive evidence for the volcanic
interpretation, just a deduction from a prior theory that
sees no other alternative.
In these pages
we have contended that craters on other bodies in the solar
system that are universally assigned to impact events are,
with few exceptions, a result of interplanetary
"thunderbolts". "Hole in the Ground"—and innumerable
counterparts around the world (sometimes interpreted as
“maars” produced by the interaction of rising magma with
groundwater), should be examined with that idea in mind. In
fact, the crater is situated in a region that electric
theorists have identified as some of the most spectacular
electrical scarring on Earth (a subject of coming Pictures
of the Day).
Testing the
electrical interpretation model would be simple and
eminently feasible. Like Meteor Crater in Arizona (which
Wallace Thornhill identifies as a superb example of an
electrical crater–complete with nearby sinuous rilles) we
should find evidence of fulgurites (glassified soil caused
by lightning) and/or shocked minerals beneath the crater or
in the walls. Finding a solid crater floor with core samples
under the fragmented material inside the crater, and
matching core samples taken from the same depth but outside
the crater should confirm the continuity of the strata. This
would eliminate any possibility of the crater being produced
by a volcanic mechanism.
Just as the
planet Mars has a region with giant "volcanoes" and a
colossal canyon, the electrical theorists point to similar
scarring on Earth, but on a much-reduced scale. Electric
scarring proponents contend that the study of Mars' surface
relief can tell us more about craters, volcanoes, and
gorges—even the
Grand Canyon—than the centuries spent studying
the Earth. The ancient “gods of the thunderbolt" have much
to teach us.