Impact craters! If they are erased by wind, water, weather, etc. ,why is the Barringer Crater so well defined?

Question

Shouldn't all that wind have blown all that dirt into that relitively small hole and filled it up?

Answer 1

The reason is (and that's a good question by the way-----shows thinking at work) that the Barringer Crater is , Geologically speaking, in its infancy. There just hasn't been time enough yet for erosion to do its work-------estimated age: 50,000 years.

Answer 2

The barringer crater was formed about 50000 years ago. In geological time this is not very long whatsoever. The holes formed by craters are not just filled up but the whole crater itself is either worn away completely or destroyed by shift in the general landscape. The dust that is blown in may also be blown away.

Another reason for the slow degredation is possibly the rock type. If the rock in the area is very hard then this will give it very strong resistance to erosion.

Answer 3

The fact that it's so well defined has more to do with its age than with its size. Barringer Crater is very young, as impact craters go. It's only 50,000 years old. Most other impact craters are millions of years old. It takes time for wind & weather to erode a crater. It's an extremely slow process, so it takes millions of years.

For example, the New Quebec crater in Canada is estimated to be 1.4 million years old. It still looks like a crater; it's almost perfectly round, with well defined walls. The West Hawk crater in Manitoba, Canada is estimated to be 350 million years old. It looks less like a crater; the shape is no longer a circle & the walls look broken.

Answer 4

God nodded, and then Natalie went over to the controls and said, "This asteroid is a big one. I will direct it to do the least damage to Earth and still create an ice age that will extinguish the higher forms of animals." God cautioned Natalie, "Make sure that its impact spares the underground Prairie Dog Mammals (PDMs) that will ultimately evolve into hominids." Natalie: "Copy that. I am directing it toward an area with a low level land mass located near the water. It will still provide enough dusting in the atmosphere to create the desired sun screen for planet-wide defoliation." Wham! The Earth shuddered and shook but held its orbit. Natalie rushed over to the computer and typed in "PDMs". The readout indicated that 90% of them had survived the impact." God read the report and said, "Wow, look at how evenly those PDMs are distributed across the globe." Natalie: "Will the PDMs survive the ice age caused by upsetting the Earth's atmosphere?" God: "Sure, they are furry and warm down in their burrows. Plus, their primary diet at this time is roots, even tough dry roots. Their food supply will last just about forever." *** Oh - What about those other craters? Stage 1(b): Jupiter, Earth’s outer-ring sister planet, was re-arranged in such a way that enabled it to stabilize its asteroid belt and create enough gravity to help protect Earth from maverick asteroids looming in space and otherwise threatening Earth's orbit and its inhabitants. After the completion of Stage 1(b), God noticed that meteorites were still hitting the Earth's surface. He turned to Natalie and said, "Natura, look at those space balls bombarding Earth". Natalie: "I thought the new Jupiter would protect us". God: "You're right. But, a few mavericks are still getting through." Natalie: "How big are they?" God: "They range from about 50 to 500 pounds each." Natalie: "Well, we plan to build a moon in Stage 4(a). Will the moon help block them?" God: "Probably a few of them, especially the larger slower ones. But we have to do something about the other smaller ones hitting our new inhabitants of Earth." Natalie: "Well, how does our planet defend itself against those small chunks from space? Of course, I don't mean how now, since we now have a virtual space dome of deflectors. How did our planet deal with them when we were young like planet Earth?" God: "When our planet was young, our moon helped block a lot of medium sized meteors. And our atmosphere created resistance and burned up or at least slowed the smaller meteors before they reached our surface." Natalie: "Well, there you have it, darling. When we get to Stage 2 and create Earth's atmosphere, we need to be very careful to create its atmosphere exactly like the atmosphere was when Big H was young like Earth." God: "Good point. And, speaking of the moon, which is Step 4(a), I am not sure we want to create Earth's moon the same way our moon was created.

Answer 5

Because it is relatively young.