Westcliffe and Silver Cliff Meteorite Craters, Further Evidence of Extinction Level Event Options

[ASTROBLEME]

Greetings Everyone,

I am announcing this discovery as a long time contributor to the Colorado Prospector Forum and want to make sure that other members have access to this information. After initiating a research effort in 2005, I have been able to collect substantial evidence to support a double meteorite impact located in Custer County, Colorado. The Westcliffe Crater is the larger structure while the Silver Cliff Crater is smaller and both are named for the towns nearby. All my work has been done independently and at my own cost.

This previously unrecognized double crater structure is paired with my discovery of the Gunnison Crater. All 3 impacts occurred 360 to 375 million years ago. These impact craters are further evidence supporting the Tonko Lineament that recognizes the serial impacts across the United States aligning on the 38th Parallel. The crater chain and associated fish fossil records I have researched indicate a Devonian mass extinction event where 70% of life on our planet was eliminated. Along with hyper-velocity geologic evidence in the target zone, I have also recovered two meteorite types that are in the early process of classification.

Peak Ring Image of Westcliffe and Silver Cliff Craters


Westcliffe Meteorite (photo with light sourced to highlight metal inclusions but chondrules are still visible)



Silver Cliff Meteorite



Sincerely,

Johnny Tonko

[ASTROBLEME]

I'm pleased to see all the interest in my efforts to understand what created the Tonko Lineament following the 38th Parallel. It is hard to get one's mind around the full extent of energy released during impacts that can launch large volumes of material from the surface of planets and moons into deep space during impact cratering events. There are several very large craters on Mars that have potential to launch gigantic volumes of Martian soil and rock far into space...well away from that planet's orbit. In the attached photo, I've projected the Martian impact basin known as Hellas Planitia onto the surface of Earth. Just for reference, I used my home as the theoretical point of impact.

The present day surface expression of that particular crater on Mars is 1,400 miles in diameter. Keep in mind that the crater excavation was refilled with tremendous amounts of "fallback" after impact. "Fallback" is the small dust particles and tiny mineral grains that didn't escape recapture by the gravitational forces of Mars. The impact penetration was much, much deeper before fallback material refilled up to the current 23,465 feet depth below the surface of Mars.

It is those larger fragments and blocks of material that were launched out of Mars orbit that eventually impacted into Earth along the 38th Parallel. This catastrophic event is what I refer to as the Tonko Lineament. All of this is strong evidence supporting the cause for the mass extinction event occurring in the late Devonian.

Sincerely,

ASTROBLEME