56,000 years ago, a meteorite may have been behind the Grand Canyon of Colorado
Evidence found of two geological events that apparently had no connection
There are iconic places all around the planet that people visit without ever really learning their origin, or what or how they were created. One of the best known in the United States is the Grand Canyon of Colorado and, specifically, the Barringer Crater , also known as Meteor Crater, which was formed some 56,000 years ago.
A group of scientists has shared in the journal Geology their striking breakthrough regarding the connection between two events that, apparently, had no relation and that all signs point to the fact that they did. Apparently, a 'curveball' from space pierced the Earth's surface and struck, traveling more than 160 kilometers to the Grand Canyon, causing a landslide onto the Colorado River .
“There are other possibilities, such as a random rockfall or a local earthquake occurring within the thousand years following the impact of the meteorite crater, which could have happened independently ,” explains Karl Karlstrom , professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of New Mexico.
The Grand Canyon of the Colorado: A river flood and the formation of the crater, linked in time
According to the data, it would be too much of a coincidence for two such important events to occur in such a short period and not be, as is believed, related. One piece of evidence of the flood is Stanton Cave, 46 meters above river level , which at the time revealed logs carried by the current.
“It would have required a flood ten times greater than any that had occurred in the last several thousand years,” says Karlstrom, whose analyses of the wood indicate that it was around 56,000 years old , demonstrating that both events occurred within a surprisingly short span of time. And David Kring , co-author of the study, has evidence that the Barringer Crater is the same age as that flood.
“The meteorite impact, the massive landslide, the lake deposits, and the driftwood found far above the river level are rare and unusual events ,” the experts conclude.
