I’ve seen images of Arizona’s Meteor Crater countless times on television. It is an iconic landmark along route 66 in the Southwest. Roughneck entrepreneurs back in the day used to charge a passerby 5 cents to poke their curious head over the rim of the crater. The precious metal in the coin of the nickel they collected as a fee, certainly added up to more than the nonexistent ore prospectors had failed to find while sweating in the mines around and in the geologic depression. In the 1950’s tourist were welcome to take one of seven steep dusty trails to the bottom of the void if they pleased. Once on or below the rim of the massive crater they could take home specimens of rock or potential pieces of the shattered meteor if they pleased. Many thing have changed since then including the banishment of both of these practices. Visitors are no longer permitted below the rim and will be prosecuted if they remove any geological artifacts.
Due to the abundance of volcanic activity in the immediate area surrounding the large circular hole in the ground, for decades the genesis of the crater was heatedly debated. At the time it was mistakenly classified and accepted by most as volcanic in origin. The proof of what this hole actually is lies in the rocks. Any good geologist will tell you that rocks tell a story of their past. And the story these rocks speak of reveal a violent impact from above that took place 50,000 years ago. It was not a super heated volcanic eruption from below as formerly believed.
While we strolled beside the edge of the crater, our informative guide significantly enriched our experience. If not for the historical and geological facts he shared we’d simply be aimlessly gazing into a large hole in the ground. This striking gash on the Earth’s surface is 600 feet deep and three-fourths of a mile in diameter. A major clue that the first true geologist used to determine that this was indeed a meteor and not a volcanic crater were the inverted strata along the rim of the crater. This is a tell tale sign of impact sights where older layers of rock sit on top of younger. A more obvious indicator is of course all the meteor fragments of varying size encircling the impact sight.
While I find all of this information and history incredibly interesting, I’m by no means a geologist or historian. We just happened to have taken an extremely educational walking tour above the rim. I would have loved to have hiked the 600 feet down to the floor of the crater, but it wasn’t allowed. Disappointed as I was not being able to experience the view from the bottom looking up, I do respect the need to protect and preserve fragile areas such as meteor crater. After all, this is the most well preserved impact crater in the world due to the arid environment it resides in. Such stringent rules will ensure it is protected for future generations enjoyment.