Monday, August 9, 2010

The impact that shattered Santa Fe

Leslie Mullen
Astrobiology Magazine

Roberta Talache picks a shatter cone out of a rubble pile from the Santa Fe impact structure [Leslie Mullen].

On a winding road near Santa Fe, New Mexico, exposed mountain walls form an intricate mosaic of brown, yellow, pink and gray rocks that stretch up toward the deep blue sky. To the untrained eye, these rocks are just a random jumble of different shapes and colors. To a geologist, however, such rock outcrops can tell a compelling story about the distant past.


Evidence suggests that a large meteorite smashed into this area long ago. The force of the impact shattered the ground and tossed broken and pulverized rocks far and wide.

Read the Astrobiology
Feature Article, HERE.

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