Including Original "Paul H. Letters" Copyright © 1996-2024 Paul V. Heinrich / website © 1996-2024 Dirk Ross - All rights reserved.



Tuesday 26 June 2007

Fauld Crater, Staffordshire, England

Fauld Crater, Staffordshire, England

Paul bristolia at yahoo.com
Mon Jun 25 13:49:22 EDT 2007

Dear Friends,

While looking around, a friend found something, which
looked like an impact crater at:

Latitude 52.847117N, Longitude 1.730608W

After a quick search, I found that it although it was
indeed a crater, it was not the result of a meteorite
impact and had more earthly origins. It was the site
of the Fauld explosion, which occurred when in 1944,
some 3,670 tons of RAF bombs exploded being stored
underground exploded. A paper about thsi event is:

Waltham, T., 2001, The Fauld Crater. Mercian Geologist.
vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 123-125.

A 536Kb PDF file can be obtained from:

http://www.emgs.org.uk/files/local_geology/15(2)_fauld_crater.pdf

The “Fauld Explosion” web page is at:

http://www.carolyn.topmum.net/tutbury/fauld/fauldcrater.htm

and “The world's largest-ever explosion (almost) - in
Staffordshire 60 years ago” at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/features/history/2004/fauld.shtml

Yours,

Paul H.

Friday 22 June 2007

Centimeter cubes

Centimeter cubes

Paul bristolia at yahoo.com
Thu Jun 21 23:55:27 EDT 2007

Does anyone know why the specific letters, which are
found on a standard centimeter cube, were originally
chosen?

Svend wrote:


>thanks for your kind words on the scalecube story. No,

>the cubes circulating with the broad engravings and

>the "1cm" gimmick are a follow up product done by

>someone else. They also use a different font than the

>original NASA type cubes.


I have to wonder if ten years from now, there will be
people collecting the different types of scalecubes /
centimeter cubes as people on this list are collecting
meteorites. I can just see people searching for a Drake
centimeter cube for their collection as a person would
look for either a Thuathe or a Brahin for their collection.


>However, every cubeless collector is free to choose

>what product serves best his duties. And we encourage

>everyone who whants to give it a try to produce his or

>her own cubes. Its a free market, and hey, in the end

>its just a cube ;)


Maybe someone can convince the Geological Society
of America to make and sell them as they sell grain-size
cards, field photoscales, field notebooks, and other
stuff used by geologists. It seems to me that geologists,
paleontologists, and even archaeologists would benefit
by using the centimeter cube instead the bizarre
collection of coins, keys, photoscales, and other
objects used as a scale in pictures of rocks, fossils,
and artifacts. I will be using centimeter cubes for
scale in the pictures of rocks, fossils, and artifacts,
which I take to illustrate articles and papers.

Best Regards,

Paul

Wednesday 13 June 2007

Geologists to Name 'New' Impact Crater in Montana after Havre Couple 1

Geologists to Name 'New' Impact Crater in Montana after Havre Couple

Paul bristolia at yahoo.com
Tue Jun 12 11:09:47 EDT 2007

Ron Baalke wrote:


>http://www.havredailynews.com>/articles/2007/06/11/local_headlines/local.txt

>

>Geologists to name "new" meteorite crater

>after Havre couple by Annette Hayden, Havre

>Daily News (Montana), June 11, 2007


Using information given in the article, I used Google
Earth to find the the location of the structure, which
it discusses. The latitude and longitude of this
structure is:

108.6729941879148 W
47.82294379843308 N

It is on the edge of hills known as "The Little Rocky
Mountains". There a number of circular structure
within the region associated with laccolithic intrusions.
There is a discussion of this in "Geology and Physiography
of Fort Belknap" at:

http://serc.carleton.edu/research_education/nativelands/ftbelknap/geology.html

The “Geologic Map of the Zortman 30' x 60' Quadrangle,
Central Montana” can be downloaded from:

http://www.mbmg.mtech.edu/stmap.htm

and

http://www.mbmg.mtech.edu/pdf_100k/zortman.pdf

Two publications on the geology of the area are:

Knechtel, M.M., 1944, Oil and gas possibilities of the
plains adjacent to the Little Rocky Mountains, Montana:
U.S. Geological Survey, Oil and Gas Investigations
Map OM-4, scale 1:48000.

Knechtel, M.M., 1959, Stratigraphy of the Little Rocky
Mountains and encircling foothills, Montana: U.S.
Geological Survey, Bulletin 1072-N, scale 1:48000.

Best Regards,

Paul

Correction To “Geologists to Name 'New' Impact Crater in Montana after Havre Couple”

Correction To “Geologists to Name 'New' Impact Crater in Montana after Havre Couple”

Paul bristolia at yahoo.com
Tue Jun 12 11:50:43 EDT 2007

In his post at:

http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/meteorite-list/2007-June/035598.html

Ron Baalke wrote:
" http://www.havredailynews.com/articles/2007/06/11/local_headlines/local.txt
Geologists to name "new" meteorite crater
after Havre couple by Annette Hayden, Havre
Daily News (Montana), June 11, 2007”

In my post at

http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/meteorite-list/2007-June/035660.html

I wrote

“Using information given in the article, I used Google
Earth to find the the location of the structure, which
it discusses. The latitude and longitude of this
structure is:

108.6729941879148 W
47.82294379843308 N”

It appears that I have have incorrectly located this feature. The
correct latitude and longitude for this feature appears to be:

47°50'32.84"N
108°35'43.84"W

Yours,

Paul

The URLs of interest from the previous post
still remain:

1. Geology and Physiography of Fort Belknap at:
http://serc.carleton.edu/research_education/nativelands/ftbelknap/geology.html

2. "Geologic Map of the Zortman 30' x 60' Quadrangle,
Central Montana" at either: http://www.mbmg.mtech.edu/stmap.htm or
http://www.mbmg.mtech.edu/pdf_100k/zortman.pdf

3. Geologic Resources of Fort Belknap
http://www.eere.energy.gov/tribalenergy/guide/pdfs/fort_belknap.pdf

Best Regards,

Paul

Tuesday 12 June 2007

The Imaginary Mucks of Alaska and Siberia was "Arrowheads from NWA"

The Imaginary Mucks of Alaska and Siberia was "Arrowheads from NWA"

Paul bristolia at yahoo.com
Mon Jun 11 11:32:43 EDT 2007

In the post "Arrowheads from NWA", Mr. Grondine wrote:

“The impact that produced the Alaskan and Siberian
mucks, and altered the north Pacific currents, and the
world's weather, are covered in my book "Man and
Impact in the Americas".”

One major problem is that the so-called "Alaskan and Siberian
mucks" exist only in the very vivid imagination of various
catastrophists, i.e. Deloria (1997), Hapgood (1970), and
Velikovsky (1955). Over the last sixty years, numerous papers
have shown that the descriptions of the so-called "Alaskan and
Siberian mucks" by Hibben (1942, 1946) and Rainey (1940) are
grossly incorrect and completely refuted the interpretations,
which they have made of their catastrophic origin.

A typical description of muck is:

"In Alaska, for example, thick frozen deposits of
volcanic ash, silts, sands, boulders, lenticles and
ribbons of unmelted ice, and countless relics of late
Pleistocene animals and plants lie jumbled together
in no discernible order. This amazing deposit,
usually referred to as 'muck', has been described
by Dr Rainey as containing: '... enormous numbers
of frozen bones of extinct animals, such as mammoth,
mastodon, super bison and horse, as well as brush,
stumps, moss and freshwater molluscs (281)'."

It has now been proved that such descriptions are nothing more
than imaginative fiction, which have been soundly refuted by
over 50 years of research and numerous peer-reviewed papers
and monographs, which have been published by the Quaternary
geologist, who have studied these deposits for decades.

As proved by numerous published peer-reviewed papers and
monographs, including Berger (2003), Bettis et al. (2003),
Guthrie (1990), McDowell and Edwards (2001), Muhs et al.
(2001, 2003, 2004), Pewe (1955, 1975a, 1975b, 1989), and
Westgate et al. (1990), the claim that these deposits consist
of "thick frozen deposits of volcanic ash, silts, sands, boulders,
lenticles and ribbons of unmelted ice, and countless relics of
late Pleistocene animals and plants lie jumbled together in no
discernible order" is false. Instead, as described in numerous
publications, specifically Guthrie (1990), Muhs et al. (2003),
Pewe (1955, 1975a, 1975b, 1989), and Westgate et al. (1990),
the deposits, which are often referred to as “Alaskan muck”
consist of a well-ordered, layer-cake sequence of stratigraphic
units containing distinct paleosols and buried forests with in
situ tree stumps. As seen in Figures 20 and 29 of Pewe (1975);
Figure 4 of Pewe et al. (1997); and the measured sections of
Westgate et al. (1990), the so-called “muck” consists of well-
defined geologic layers, which are only jumbled where the
surface has been disturbed by either thermokarst, landslides,
solifluction, or some combination of these processes. The total
thickness of the Quaternary deposits, which have been designated
as “muck” is only 10 to 20 m (33 to 66 ft) as their thickest,
which become thinner upslope.

Starting with Pewe (1955), Quaternary geologists have recognized
the presence of 7 well-defined stratigraphic units, which the
deposits that are falsely described as being “jumbled together
in no discernible order”. Some of these stratigraphic units, i.e.
the Ready Bullion Formation, Engineer Loess, Goldstream
Formation, Gold Hill Loess, and the Fairbanks Loess, consist
of silt, which have been demonstrated to consist of a combination
of wind-blown silt called "loess" and sediments moved down-hill
by slopewash and solifluction. Some stratigraphic units, i.e. the
Dawson Cut and Eva Formations, contain buried, in situ forests
that are rooted in "fossil" soils, which are called “paleosols”.
Other stratigraphic units , i.e. the Tanana Formation, Fox
Gravel, and Cripple Gravel, consist of gravels, which often
contain gold and demonstrated to have been deposited by
streams (Bettis et al. 2003; Pewe 1955, 1975a, 1975b, 1989;
Pewe et al. 1997; Westgate et al. 1990; Muhs et al. 2001,
2003, 2004).

In addition, the contacts between these stratigraphic units are
well-defined, persistent, and easily mappable. The forest beds,
ice-wedge casts, and buried soils, which are found associated
with the contacts demonstrate the periods of non-deposition
lasting thousands to tens of thousands years occurred between
the deposition different stratigraphic units. They soundly
refute the claim that the “Alaskan muck” accumulated during a
single catastrophic event. Even within individual stratigraphic
units, paleosols can be found indicating that the accumulation
of sediments comprising individual them was not continuous being
interrupted by periods of either non-deposition and landscape
stability or erosion (Bettis et al. 2003; Pewe 1955, 1975a,
1975b, 1989; Pewe et al. 1997; Westgate et al. 1990; Muhs et
al. 2001, 2003, 2004).


Rainey (1940) and Hibbens (1942, 1946) were wrong in their
claims that the remains plant and animal fossils occur randomly
together throughout the “Alaskan muck”. The fossils, rather
subfossils of trees are typically limited to one of three buried
forest beds, which have been mapped within the so-called
“Alaskan muck”. For example as shown in Figure 29 of Pewe
(1975a), buried forest containing in situ tree stumps at the
top of the Fox Gravel, the Gold Hill Loess, and the Goldstream
Loess. Each of these buried forests are characterized by the
in situ stumps of mature trees rooted in buried soils developed
in the top of each of these units (Pewe 1975a, 1975b, 1989;
Pewe et al. 1997). These buried forests consist of the stumps
and fallen trunks of forests buried in place by colluvial deposits
or solifluction lobes. Papers and monographs published in the
last fifty years have shown the claims and descriptions made
by Rainey (1940) and Hibben (1942, 1946) concerning the
abundance and distribution of fossil bones to be grossly
exaggerated and quite inaccurate.

Mr. Grondine continued:

" It is too bad these mucks are not absolutely dated
yet. But 11,000 BCE would be a late date for Bessey's
"arrowheads" (points) - most are likely far older."

The fact of the matter is that both the “Alaskan and Siberian
mucks” have been repeatedly dated by luminescence and optical
stimulated luminescence dating and dating of any volcanic ash
layers found in them. The younger “muck deposits” have been
dated by radiocarbon dating and the archaeological remains,
which they contain. These dates demonstrate that the sediments,
which are haphazardly and incorrectly lumped together as a single
“Alaskan muck”, episodically accumulated over a period of 2
to 3 million years, with the youngest deposits having accumulated
as recently as 7,000 to 8,000 years ago. The youngest forest bed,
the Eva Forest Bed, dates to the last interglacial, about 125,000
years ago as determined by Pewe et al. (1997). It and the “muck”
beneath it are far too old to be related to any terminal Pleistocene
catastrophe. The oldest forest bed, the Dawson Cut Forest Bed,
has been found to be almost 2 million years old by Westgate et
al. (2003). These dates, paleosols, and in situ forest beds,
indicate that the “Alaskan muck” did not accumulate as the
result of one event, but rather represents periods during which
loess and other sediments accumulated separated by very long
periods, thousands to tens of thousands of years, during which
there was a lack of any accumulation of “muck” (Berger 2003,
Muhs et al. (2001, 2003, 2004), Pewe (1955, 1975a, 1975b,
1989), Pewe et al. (1997), and Westgate et al. (1990).

In case of the “Siberian muck”, there are numerous published,
peer-reviewed papers and monographs, which also refute all of
what Deloria (1997), Hapgood (1970), Velikovsky (1955), and
others have written about it. What these papers and monographs
prove is that the so-called “Siberian muck”, like the “Alaskan
mucks” consist of multiple well-defined and recognizable
stratigraphic units that are **not ** “jumbled together in no
discernible order”. They demonstrate that many of these units
typically occur in an ordered and predictable layer caked fashion
and are both separated by and internally contain well defined
paleosols, which represent periods during, which the deposition
of the so-called “Siberian muck” ceased for periods of hundreds
to thousands and tens of thousands years and allowed the
formation of mature soils. The Siberian muck as described by
Deloria (1997), Hapgood (1970), and Velikovsky (1955),
exists only in the rather vivid imagination of these writers.

In addition these publications contain numerous luminescence,
optical stimulated luminescence, and radiocarbon dates along
with artifacts found within them, that date the age of the
various stratigraphic units comprising the “Siberian muck”. At
one location, these dates and paleosols show distinct periods
during which the “Siberian muck” accumulated between
18,000 to 28,000 BP, around 40,000 to 50,000 BP, and about
89,000 BP (Frechen and Yamskikh 1999). Rutter et al. (2003)
dated individual stratigraphic units within the “Siberian muck”,
which are separated by paleosols, as being as old as 88,000,
101,000 to 109,000, and 130,000 BP. These and many, many
other dates soundly and repeatedly refute any connection
between the deposition of the “Siberian muck” and any
terminal Pleistocene catastrophe.

(Note this is a revision of previous essay, which I have
written about the “Alaskan muck”.)

References:

Berger, Glenn W., 2003, Luminescence chronology of Late
Pleistocene loess-paleosol and tephra sequences near Fairbanks,
Alaska. Quaternary Research. vol. 60, no. 1, Pages 70-83.

Bettis, E. A., Muhs, D. R., Robert, H. M., and Wintle, A. G.,
2003, Last Glacial loess in the conterminous USA.
Quaternary Science Reviews. vol. 22, no. 18-19,
pp. 1907-1946

Deloria, Vine, Jr., 1997, Red Earth, White Lies: Native
Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact. Fulcrum
Publishing. Golden, Colorado.

Frenchen, M., and Yamskikh, 1995, Upper Pleistocene loess
stratigraphy in the southern Yenisei Siberia area. Jounral
of the Geological Society of London. vol. 156, pp. 515-525.

Gutherie, R. D., 1990, Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppes:
The Story of Blue Babe. University of Chicago Press, Chicago,
Illinois.

Hapgood, C. H., 1970, The Path of The Pole. Chilton Book
Company. New York, New York.

Hibben, Frank C., 1942, Evidences of early man in Alaska.
American Antiquity. vol. 8, pp. 254-259.

Hibben, Frank C., 1946. Lost Americans. Crowell. New York,
New York.

Muhs, D. R., Ager T. A., and Begét, J. E., 2001, Vegetation
and paleoclimate of the last interglacial period, central Alaska
Quaternary Science Reviews. vol. 20, no. 1-3, pp. 41-61.

Muhs, D. R., McGeehin, J. P, Beann, J., and Fisher, E., 2004,
Holocene loess deposition and soil formation as competing
processes, Matanuska Valley, southern Alaska. Quaternary
Research. vol. 61, no. 3, pp. 265-276

Muhs, D. R., Ager, T. A., and Begét, J., 2004, Stratigraphy and
palaeoclimatic significance of Late Quaternary loess–palaeosol
sequences of the Last Interglacial–Glacial cycle in central
Alaska. Quaternary Science Reviews. vol. 22, no. 18-19,
pp. 1947-1986.

McDowell, P. F., and Edwards, M. E., 2001, Evidence of
Quaternary climatic variations in a sequence of loess and
related deposits at Birch Creek, Alaska: implications for the
Stage 5 climatic chronology. Quaternary Science Reviews,
vol. 20, no.1-3, pp. 63-76.

Pewe, T. L., 1955, Origin of the upland silt near Fairbanks,
Alaska. Geological Society of America Bulletin. vol. 66,
no. 6, pp. 699-724.

Pewe, T. L., 1975a, Quaternary Geology of Alaska. U.S.
Geological Survey Professional Paper 835, 145 pp.
http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/usgspubs/pp/pp835

Pewe, T. L., 1975b, Quaternary Stratigraphic Nomenclature in
Central Alaska. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper
no. 862, 32 pp. http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/usgspubs/pp/pp862

Pewe, T. L., 1989, Quaternary stratigraphy of the Fairbanks
area, Alaska. in Late Cenozoic History of the Interior Basins
of Alaska and the Yukon. U.S. Geological Survey Circular
no. 1026, pp. 72-77.

Pewe, T. L., Berger, G. W., Westgate, J. A., Brown, P. A., and
Leavitt, S. W., 1997, Eva Interglacial Forest Bed, Unglaciated
East-Central Alaska. Geological Society of America Special
Paper no. 319, 54 pp.

Rainey, F., 1940, Archaeological Investigations in Alaska.
American Antiquity. vol. 5, pp. 299-308.

Rutter, N. W., Rokosh, D., Evans, M. E., Little, E. C., Chlachula,
J., and Velichko, A., 2003, Correlation and interpretation of
paleosols and loess across European Russia and Asia over
the last interglacial-glacial cycle. Quaternary Research.
vol. 60, no. 1, Pages 101-109.

Velikovsky, Immanuel, 1955. Earth in Upheaval. Doubleday
and Company, Garden City, New York.

Westgate, J. A., Stemper, B. A., and Pewe, T. L., 1990, A 3
m.y. record of Pliocene-Pleistocene loess in interior Alaska.
Geology. vol. 18, no. 9, p. 858-861.

Westgate, John A., Preece, Shari J., and Pewe, Troy L., 2003,
The Dawson Cut Forest Bed in the Fairbanks area, Alaska, is
about two million years old. Quaternary Research. vol. 60,
no. 1, Pages 2-8.

Yours,

Paul

Sunday 10 June 2007

Papers on Desert and Other Meteorites Available Online Until June 18th

Papers on Desert and Other Meteorites Available Online Until June 18th

Paul bristolia at yahoo.com
Sat Jun 9 09:51:24 EDT 2007

Dear Friends,

The PDF version of an article about desert meteorites is
available online until June 18, 2007. It is:

Desert meteorites: a history by A. W. R. Bevan
Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 2006; v. 256; p. 325-343;
http://sp.lyellcollection.org/cgi/content/abstract/256/1/325

This part of “The History of Meteoritics and Key Meteorite
Collections: Fireballs, Falls and Finds edited by G. J.
H. McCall and A. J. Bowden. Other PDF files in this book
can be found at:

http://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/vol256/issue1/

The PDF versions of the above and other papers in this volume
will be free to download until June 18, 2007. This applies to
the other papers in the Lyell collection at:

http://www.lyellcollection.org/

Best Regards,

Paul H.

Saturday 9 June 2007

Three New Papers on Mythology and Meteorites

Three New Papers on Mythology and Meteorites

Paul bristolia at yahoo.com
Fri Jun 8 15:58:47 EDT 2007

Dear Friends,

The Geological Society of London has a new book concerning
the potential of myth to yield clues to geologic processes
and past geologic events. It is:

Piccardi, L., and W.B. Masse, 2007, Myth and Geology.
Geological Society of London Special Publication no. 273.

http://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/vol273/issue1/

10-Digit ISBN: 1-86239-216-1
13-Digit ISBN: 978-1-86239-216-8
Three of the papers in this book are related to mythology and
either meteorites of extraterrestrial impacts. They are:

1. Myth and catastrophic reality: using myth to identify
cosmic impacts and massive Plinian eruptions in Holocene
South America by W. Bruce Masse1 & Michael J. Masse.

http://sp.lyellcollection.org/cgi/content/abstract/273/1/177

2. Cosmogenic mega-tsunami in the Australia region: are
they supported by Aboriginal and Maori legends? by E.
Bryant, G. Walsh & D. Abbott.

http://sp.lyellcollection.org/cgi/content/abstract/273/1/203

3. Meteorite records in the ancient Greek and Latin
literature: between history and myth by Massimo D'Orazio

http://sp.lyellcollection.org/cgi/content/abstract/273/1/215

The PDF files of these articles can be downloaded
for free until June 18th.

Best

Paul H.

Friday 8 June 2007

OT- Rethinking Moqui Marbles??

OT- Rethinking Moqui Marbles??

Paul bristolia at yahoo.com
Thu Jun 7 08:31:25 EDT 2007

Mike Groetz wrote:

“Check out the last photo in this article- it (and
somewhat the others) resembles the Moqui marbles I
have. Except these are in pounds- not grams or ounces.

http://en.epochtimes.com/news/7-6-5/56130.html

Some references,, which discuss the origins of the Moqui
Marbles are:

1. Chan, M.A. and W.T. Parry. 2002. Mysteries of Sandstone
Colors and Concretions in Colorado Plateau Canyon Country.
Utah Geological Survey Public Information Series. no. 77, 19 pp.

468 KB PDF version can be found at:

http://geology.utah.gov/online/pdf/pi-77.pdf

2. Chan, M.A., B.B. Beitler, W.T. Parry, J. Ormo, and G.
Komatsu. 2005. Red Rock and Red Planet Diagenesis:
Comparison of Earth and Mars Concretions. GSA Today.
vol. 15, no. 8, pp. 4-10.

PDF version can be found at:

http://www.gsajournals.org/archive/1052-5173/15/8/pdf/i1052-5173-15-8-4.pdf

3. Beitler, Brenda; Parry W.T. Chan Marjorie A. 2006.
Fingerprints of Fluid Flow: Chemical Diagenetic History of
the Navajo Sandstone, Southern, Utah, U.S.A. Journal of
Sedimentary Research. vol. 75, no. 4, pp. 547-561.

http://jsedres.sepmonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/75/4/547

4. Chan, M.A., Parry W.T., Bowman J.R. 2000. Diagenetic
Hematite and Manganese Oxides and Fault-Related Fluid
Flow in Jurassic Sandstones, Southeastern Utah. American
Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin. vol. 84,
no. 9, pp. 1281-1310.

http://aapgbull.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/84/9/1281

5. Chan, M.A., B. Beitler, W.T. Parry, J. Ormo, and G. Komatsu,
2004, Utah Marbles and Mars Blueberries: Terrestrial Analogs
for Hematite Concretions of Mars. Second Conference on Early
Mars. Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas.

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/earlymars2004/pdf/8012.pdf

6. University of Utah, 2004, Earth Has 'Blueberries' Like Mars -
'Moqui Marbles' Formed in Groundwater in Utah's National
Parks

http://www.marstoday.com/viewpr.html?pid=14410

http://web.utah.edu/unews/news_images_2004/jun/press2.jpg

http://web.utah.edu/unews/news_images_2004/jun/SF1.jpg

http://web.utah.edu/unews/news_images_2004/jun/SF2.jpg

Best Regards,

Paul