Coaldale Crater Gemstones, Meteorite Impact Produces Rare Specimens |
Coaldale Crater Gemstones, Meteorite Impact Produces Rare Specimens |
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![]() Rock Bar! ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 613 Joined: 16-October 08 From: Central Colorado Member No.: 6,813 ![]() |
Members and Guests of Colorado Prospector,
Many years ago I discovered a highly eroded, geologically complex and very ancient impact crater centered 3 ¼ miles northwest of Coaldale, Colorado (USA). I am announcing this discovery as a long-time contributor to this forum in an effort to assure that the public has access to this information. Dan (the owner and operator of Colorado Prospector) is preparing some of my "Coaldale Crater" specimens for jewelry settings. He has graciously agreed to document his work progress so that others can gain a better understanding of the effort it takes to transform these raw materials into valuable gemstones. Please take time to follow this project along the way. I hope you find the subject interesting. I'll be sharing the science behind this amazing discovery as our work progresses. This research builds upon my work at Gunnison Crater, Westcliffe Crater, Silver Cliff Crater and Hillside Crater that proved an extension to the 38th Parallel Crater Chain dating to the Late Devonian Period. Although the Coaldale Crater is also along the 38th Parallel, it is not part of the well documented crater chain system. My efforts in the Coaldale Colorado region included collecting field survey data, acquiring and analyzing numerous geologic specimens followed by an extensive review of the relevant scientific literature. The results support an impact event that occurred during the Oligocene Epoch. For now, I'm providing the attached map depicting the present peak ring exposure. It is fascinating that this impact crater has survived the deep erosion and strong fault deformation that Mother Nature has provided continually over the past 27+ million years. Sincerely, ASTROBLEME -------------------- Annual Dues Paying Member Since 2008
Tonko Mining Company "Some day this crater is going to be a greatly talked about place, and if the above credit is due, as is certainly the case, I would like to have it generally known for the sake of the children." Daniel Moreau Barringer 2/1/1912 in a letter about the Barringer Meteorite Crater, Arizona USA |
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![]() Rock Bar! ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 875 Joined: 25-July 14 From: Westminster, CO Member No.: 117,949 ![]() |
Hi Johnny,
Thanks for sharing this info with us, and particularly for sticking your neck out! This is all new to me, and it's taking me some time to dig in and understand what you're saying. I've been doing a lot of reading about identifying meteorites and tektites compared to plain rocks and volcanic glass, and reading about the signatures associated with hyper velocity impacts. I'd like to respectfully challenge your finds with the understanding that at a very minimum I/we will come away with more education. Have you published or attempted to publish any of your findings/theories in a peer reviewed journal? Frankly, this would gain you a lot of clout if you get other learned individuals to agree with your theories. It would seem that if you've found 3 previously unknown impact craters right here in CO that the geology community would be clamoring to know more. The Gunnison article from 10 years ago had two professors disagreeing with your theories around Gunnison, and now you have 2 additional crater theories. Barringer took 3 years from time he made his theories public in 1903 to when he provided documented evidence to the US Geologic Survey. It took at least another 47 years for the scientific community to get on board when Shoemaker confirmed Barringer's findings. How do you know these are tektites and meteorite fragments? For instance the pictures below you say are meteorite fragments, but I see a lot of vesicles present which I understand to be indicative of terrestrial rocks. I understand there's also not much difference between tektites and obsidian, but we can determine which is which by exposing samples to an oxyacetylene torch (Meteorite Times Magazine test). Do you have any tests like this? Are you able to share any reports on samples you have such as SEM-EDS? This would be quite interesting to see for the blue sample you have. Quoting a report by Gordon Osinski, QUOTE Several criteria may be used to identify hypervelocity impact structures, including the presence of a crater form and/or unusual rocks, such as breccias, melt rocks, and pseudotachylyte; however, on their own, these indicators do not provide definitive evidence for a meteorite impact structure. The general consensus within the impact community is that unequivocal evidence for hypervelocity impact takes the form of shock metamorphic indicators, either megascopic (e.g., shatter cones Fig. 11) or microscopic (e.g., planar deformation features, Fig. 12; diaplectic glass, Fig. 13), and the presence of high-pressure polymorphs (e.g., coesite, stishovite). Have you objectively identified any of these indicators? With respect to what you call the Tonko lineament, you state the Gunnison crater occurred during the Devonian period and is part of other impacts along the 38th parallel. The Devonian period was ~363-409M years ago, followed by the formation and break up of Pangea 245M years ago, the Laramide Oregeny uplift 57M years ago, the clockwise rotation of the entire Colorado Plateau (includes Gunnison, but excludes Denver, and certainly Missouri and Illinois) 20M years ago, and additional uplift 5M years ago. That was followed by glaciation, erosion, periodic faulting and volcanism. It seems fairly obvious what's in a straight line today, certainly wasn't that way 350M years ago if we include Colorado in the 38th parallel lineament. How do you explain these differences? Assuming you can prove these are impact craters, why would you need to tie them to the 38th parallel lineament at all? Additionally, on your website, you show a picture of Gunnison breccia next to Weinbleau-Osceola breccia showing the similarity. Since I had no idea what impact breccia looks like, I went looking. I can't help but notice they look similar to the bottom left breccia from Washington University's meteorite identification page (negative examples): WUSTL Main Page & WUSTL breccia image. What differentiates the breccias you have? Around the slickensides and strike slip faults below, I'm not sure that's an indicator of anything, so I'm hoping you can expand on your point here. You state it was ejected by volcanic forces ~28M years ago, and the ashflow shows slickensides in a strike-slip orientation (horizontal slippage). This period of time is also marked by significant geological activity, all of which can produce slickensides; how do you attribute slickensides observed with an impact event vs well known geological events from the same time period? I can't find that there's a correlation between slickensides and impact events, although it certainly seems feasible. Again, thanks for taking the time to share what you've found with us! I know I've learned a lot just being exposed to the subject! ~Eric -------------------- Lifetime Member
opera non verba "All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it's impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer." ~Niccolò Machiavelli Ref Code: EM448 |
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