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Colorado Prospector - Gem and mineral prospecting and mining forums _ Space and Astronomy _ Westcliffe and Silver Cliff Meteorite Craters

Posted by: ASTROBLEME Mar 26 2016, 04:54 PM

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


Posted by: johnnybravo300 Mar 26 2016, 10:01 PM

It looks like the Gunnison crater is in the Hartman's Rocks area? I'm familiar with that area. I knew there was a ring around Hartman's, so is that related? I thought it was volcanic.

Posted by: ASTROBLEME Mar 26 2016, 10:44 PM

QUOTE (johnnybravo300 @ Mar 26 2016, 11:01 PM) *
It looks like the Gunnison crater is in the Hartman's Rocks area? I'm familiar with that area. I knew there was a ring around Hartman's, so is that related? I thought it was volcanic.


Hartman Rocks is the peak ring on the NE side of Gunnison Crater. The multi-ring dike structure was buried by the volcanic activity. You can find more information on Gunnison Crater here...

http://www.tonkomining.com/index_files/Research.htm

and also there is lots of information on this forum at...

http://www.coloradoprospector.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2479


Posted by: James and Cyndi Mar 27 2016, 08:02 AM

Quite extraordinary!!! Thanks for sharing.

Posted by: johnnybravo300 Mar 27 2016, 07:24 PM

Wow what an awesome read. Makes perfect sense. The book "geology of Gunnison county" said it was a ring dike but it wasn't very clear. A ring dike out of no where.
This makes much more sense to me. Amazing!! I love Google earth type apps.

Posted by: Crusty Mar 27 2016, 11:48 PM

awesome work; thanks for sharing

Posted by: ASTROBLEME Mar 31 2016, 02:25 PM

Here's a close-up view of the chondrules in the Silver Cliff meteorite.




Posted by: Gene Kooper Aug 14 2016, 03:20 PM

For Astrobleme,

On your Crater Research web page you list several references, one of which is Warme (2000). Since you didn't include the title is it, "Anatomy of an Anomaly: The Catastrophic Devonian Alamo Impact Breccia, Nevada"? Dr. Warme has collaborated with numerous authors over the years regarding the Alamo Breccia so I was curious about your cite. Thanks.

Also, for those interested in a general article on the Alamo Breccia where you don't have to purchase the full article, here's a link to a January 2004 GeoTimes article entitled, http://www.geotimes.org/jan04/feature_Alamo.html written by John E. Warme.

Posted by: Caveman Jan 8 2017, 11:37 AM

HOLY CRAP!!!! I just looked at this post after being away for awhile... and I LIVE just north of Mitchell Mountain.... the north side of the Westcliffe Crater! You can even see my driveway in the photo. I have lots of interesting grey rock on the property, that looks like cement (MUCH harder, though, it can scratch glass) with what looks like tiny garnets in it.... as Marty Shaw would say on Laugh In.... "Very Interesting....!" I will have to gather a few up and take photos....

Posted by: ASTROBLEME Feb 2 2017, 12:37 PM

Hello Caveman,

Here's a photo of a field specimen of Wescliffe Crater impact breccia. If you have collected some material that looks like concrete, test it with dilute hydrochloric acid (sold in hardware stores as muriatic acid). The breccia will show a strong reaction by bubbling and frothing that indicates the rock has carbonate chemistry. Some of the white cement type rocks inside the ring are so reactive that they will bubble in vinegar! What these concrete looking specimens preserve is the crushing and melting of the ocean floor at impact. Fossil meteorite fragments can be found eroding from the breccia deposits.

The ancient meteorite fragments will appear to be black or deep brown in color, leap to a magnet and will be very-very-heavy as compared to other local rocks. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that you find some as your're at a very prospective location.

Good Luck!

QUOTE (Caveman @ Jan 8 2017, 10:37 AM) *
HOLY CRAP!!!! I just looked at this post after being away for awhile... and I LIVE just north of Mitchell Mountain.... the north side of the Westcliffe Crater! You can even see my driveway in the photo. I have lots of interesting grey rock on the property, that looks like cement (MUCH harder, though, it can scratch glass) with what looks like tiny garnets in it.... as Marty Shaw would say on Laugh In.... "Very Interesting....!" I will have to gather a few up and take photos....





Posted by: Caveman Feb 3 2017, 08:50 AM

QUOTE (ASTROBLEME @ Feb 2 2017, 11:37 AM) *
Hello Caveman,

Here's a photo of a field specimen of Wescliffe Crater impact breccia. If you have collected some material that looks like concrete, test it with dilute hydrochloric acid (sold in hardware stores as muriatic acid). The breccia will show a strong reaction by bubbling and frothing that indicates the rock has carbonate chemistry. Some of the white cement type rocks inside the ring are so reactive that they will bubble in vinegar! What these concrete looking specimens preserve is the crushing and melting of the ocean floor at impact. Fossil meteorite fragments can be found eroding from the breccia deposits.

The ancient meteorite fragments will appear to be black or deep brown in color, leap to a magnet and will be very-very-heavy as compared to other local rocks. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that you find some as your're at a very prospective location.

Good Luck!







That looks a lot like what we have here on the property. thumbsupsmileyanim.gif

Posted by: ASTROBLEME Feb 9 2017, 07:23 PM

Hello Caveman,

I'm sure you'll want to go looking for meteorites in your backyard. The "concrete looking" rock is where there iron stone meteorites are eroding from. The white carbonate impact breccia contains many rounded inclusions that are welded together. Those spherules cannot be seen in a field specimen but a proper cut and polish will reveal their true nature.

Here are a couple of photos I've prepared to help you in a search.

First is a pic of the polished slice of the "concrete looking" rock. Take notice of the rust colored staining.



The close-up microscope image below shows the details of weathering of the tiny iron rock fragments from space that created the crater.




I hope you can find something.

Sincerely,

ASTROBLEME







Posted by: Caveman Feb 13 2017, 03:06 PM

There is quite a bit that looks like that on the property... just darker grey, and looks to have tiny garnets in it. When the snow is gone, I will look for some and post some pics.

Posted by: ASTROBLEME Mar 4 2017, 05:59 PM

Exciting News...

Having received results from lab analysis, it appears that the meteorite fragments may be from Mars! I've overlain my results for 2 crater specimens over a 2009 graph from McSween et al along with new data from the first Curiosity Rover sampling of a rock named Jake M displayed in yellow as JM samples.



A quick check of some rover images reveals a remarkable similarity for Silver Cliff specimens as compared to what was discovered near the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's landing site. The sphere-like grains and inclusions were called "blueberries" by NASA scientists. They are actually gray in color.




ASTROBLEME

Posted by: johnnybravo300 Mar 4 2017, 10:21 PM

Those two look identical to the eye.
So it is a rock broken off of Mars by other meteors which traveled to earth and impacted as the one big meteor that created the crater? It was originally part of one huge meteor, but it was native to Mars? Haha sounds confusing. What the heck is causing the texture on those rocks?

Posted by: ASTROBLEME Mar 12 2017, 07:18 PM

Understanding the natural forces involved in hyper-velocity impact cratering can be overwhelming. I've spent a large part of my life working on this issue and hope to bring some clarity to those that are interested in such events. Please understand that I also have much more to learn about this phenomenon. Here's my opinion formulated from results of my research into this matter...

Mars has numerous large craters, some big enough to make the planet bulge out from a spherical shape. A good suspect for ejecting the meteorite fragments I'm collecting is the largest visible impact crater in the Solar System named the Hellas Impact Basin. There is information free from subscriptions that can be viewed in this secured link;

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/50c4e0fce4b07bafe6aff024/t/51644552e4b031714c062b4d/1365525842155/Article+-+ALL+-+Hellas+Planitia+%28Ideal+Martian+Site%29.pdf

The debris ejected from such large impact events is certain to accumulate into loosely bonded ruble fields while they float through space for eons. Those accumulations of impact generated ruble eventually get drawn into gravity traps formed by the major planets and some larger moons of our Solar System. These objects locked within the ruble fields can sometimes cross Earth's orbital path where they get pulled apart and their resulting trajectories hit the Earth along a straight line.

Here's a link that provides detail of how the comet that was pulled apart by Jupiter's gravitational influence eventually created impacts along a straight line as shown in this video;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75eRfrGVOPg

Hope this helps with understanding what created the impact craters along the 38th Parallel.

Sincerely,

ASTROBLEME

Posted by: billwolf Mar 14 2017, 12:56 PM

Hi guys, I am new to this site and just looking through the forums. This is really fascinating!
I have a few rocks I will post that maybe a few of you can shed some light on.
Awesome information here. Thank You

Posted by: johnnybravo300 Mar 14 2017, 01:40 PM

Welcome billwolf. Fascinating to say the least. An impact crater 24000 ft deep? Yaaaaaaa

Posted by: ASTROBLEME Mar 15 2017, 07:10 PM

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. stamp.gif

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


Posted by: Gene Kooper Mar 16 2017, 12:42 AM

I am not sure that this will be received well, but geologic terms do have specific meanings. The term lineament refers to linear features (usually on aerial photos and satellite images) that are thought to represent linear geologic structures (e.g. faults). Here is a standard definition of lineament from the "Glossary of Geology", Robert L. Bates and Julia A. Jackson, editors, American Geological Institute, 2nd edition, 1980.

QUOTE
A linear topographic feature of regional extent that is believed to reflect crustal structure (Hobbs, et al., 1976, p. 267). Examples are fault lines, aligned volcanos, and straight stream courses

[A short trip into the weeds]
For geologists, the key is whether the linear feature/lineament is a surficial expression of a geologic structure. Photo-geologic interpretation usually includes the mapping of any straight features. There are two camps among geologists when it comes to distinguishing linear features and lineaments. The first camp hold the opinion that every mapped linear feature is a lineament (i.e. each linear feature demarcates a geologic structure). The second camp holds the view that a lineament is defined by a group of linear features. In other words, not every linear feature is a lineament.

I belong to the second group. Many years ago when I took a remote sensing class, I was introduced to mapping linear features on Landsat imagery. In the late 1970s, Dr. Don Sawatsky, a geophysicist at the USGS developed a method to statistically evaluate linear features. The algorithm was called LINANL and consisted of 26 Fortran programs that ran on a Perkin-Elmer minicomputer. The software computed significant trends and contoured the density of linear features as aids in interpreting lineaments.

I adapted the software to run on a PC and used it in my thesis research. Over the years I have used it numerous times to analyze photo-geologic mapping of oil and gas fields and vein-type mineral deposits. To show its utility and application I attached one USGS Open-File Report that employed LINANL to interpret potential mineral deposits in the Ruby Mountains. The link below is to a longer paper that used Landsat imagery to interpret crustal structures in the Cascade Range.

[attachment=10551:Lineamen..._Montana.pdf]
https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1985/0150/report.pdf
[/A short trip into the weeds]

Thanks for bearing with me....now back to Mr. Tonko's term "Tonko Lineament". His hypothesis is that several possible impact craters line up along a parallel of latitude. Just because one connects several dots together does not make it a lineament. Using that term implies that there is a regional tectonic structure running due east-west. That is certainly not the case with these possible impact craters because there are no structural geologic "links" between the dots as is the case for a series of aligned volcanoes.

From my perspective, it is intriguing that several possible impact craters are aligned along an east-west geodesic. However, the mere lining up of several points in an east-west trend does not prove they were created by a disaggregated comet. The key (to me) is whether the age of the sedimentary rocks at each possible impact site falls within a very short geologic time period (i.e. 370 million years ago). Correlating conodont species from the various sites may prove useful in establishing that narrow time window.

I had asked Mr. Tonko in an earlier post in this thread if he would provide the full reference to a 2000 Warme paper on the Alamo Impact Breccia that he references on his web site. I was fortunate to take my graduate stratigraphy course from Dr. Warme in 1986. At that time his main research interest was in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Dr. Warme has collaborated with several researchers over the years on the Alamo Impact Breccia, and I would be interested in reading the paper that Mr. Tonko references on his website.

Posted by: ASTROBLEME Mar 16 2017, 01:54 AM

The largest geologic structures found across the surface planets, moons, asteroids and comets within our solar system are craters. Some craters are volcanic, some are sink holes and some are from hyper-velocity impact. When late Devonian age impact craters are observed to be in a straight line, there is a lineament. The researcher that first recognizes the linear topographic feature should give it a proper name.

Here's the Tonko Lineament...

ASTROBLEME


Posted by: Gene Kooper Mar 16 2017, 11:28 PM

You are of course free to misuse the term lineament to define what you believe is a series of impacts similar to the Shoemaker-Levy 9.

Perhaps Geomatt will weigh in with his opinion on its usage. Merely connecting dots along the 38th parallel does not make it a lineament.

Posted by: GeoMatt Mar 17 2017, 10:28 AM

QUOTE (Gene Kooper @ Mar 16 2017, 11:28 PM) *
You are of course free to misuse the term lineament to define what you believe is a series of impacts similar to the Shoemaker-Levy 9.

Perhaps Geomatt will weigh in with his opinion on its usage. Merely connecting dots along the 38th parallel does not make it a lineament.



Gene - I'm ok with the use of the "38th Parallel Lineament", as the term predates any work Mr. Tonko has ever published on the feature. However, published peer reviewed literature (that I've come across) does not include several of the features that he includes in the lineament. I'm not sure how one would argue 38th Parallel Lineament vs. Tonko Lineament, my guess is that there would be some push back in peer review. If ever proven, I would see this as an extension of the 38th Parallel Lineament, not a renamed Tonko Lineament. The majority of features in the "Tonko Lineament" have been previously identified and the lineament named, and they would be attributable to the same impact event. But feature naming is well ahead of this discussion, you have to make a defendable discovery before you worry about the name.

As for the "crater(s)" he has identified north of Westcliffe - I am very skeptical that it is in fact an impact feature. Given a proposed impact date of Late Devonian, the significant geomorphological changes of the Wet Valley from the Late Cenozoic through the Oligocene (plutonism, explosive volcanism, structural evolution, etc...), and the common rock types of the valley that could be easily mistaken for impact related rocks (tuffs, breccias, rhyolites), I see little chance of this ring structure being an impact feature. Historical mapping in the area has it as an exposed overturned anticline, but very little detailed mapping has been completed in the Mitchell Mountain area with regard to rock types. However, I also haven't seen any geological information in this thread that is definitive, most of it appears to take some creative liberties and depend on non-linear associations (no pun intended). That said, I was already planning on being in Westcliffe this summer for the rodeo. I'll look at the rocks then and decide what I see.

Posted by: ASTROBLEME Mar 17 2017, 11:14 AM

QUOTE (Gene Kooper @ Mar 17 2017, 12:28 AM) *
You are of course free to misuse the term lineament to define what you believe is a series of impacts similar to the Shoemaker-Levy 9.

Perhaps Geomatt will weigh in with his opinion on its usage. Merely connecting dots along the 38th parallel does not make it a lineament.


Dear Mr. Kooper and Geomatt:

There are many geologists and other researches that also freely use term the lineament when referencing the impact craters along the line of latitude 38 degrees North. Here's a great example from the 51st Annual Meeting of the Association of Missouri Geologists on page 15 back in 2004;

"From east to west the disturbances are Hicks dome, Avon, Furnace Creek, Crooked Creek, Hazelgreen, Decaturville, Weaubleau, and Rose dome. This line of structures defines what has been called the “38th parallel lineament” because it closely approximates the 38th parallel line of latitude (Heyl, 1972)."

Then again on page 21 it states;

"Rampino and Volk (1996) and Rampino (1997) theorize that the individual structures along the 38th parallel lineament are the result of a single serial impact event, similar to the serial impact of the fragmented Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter during 1994."

Here's the link to that document... http://www.missourigeologists.org/Meeting2004/AMGguidebook2004.pdf

Also, there is a good use of the term here as well...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/38th_parallel_structures

The original series of depressions and deformation structures was approximately 700 kilometers in length, following the 38th Parallel through Kansas, Missouri and Illinois. The Tonko Lineament is an extension of the 38th Parallel Lineament that more than triples the previous length to a total distance of 2367 kilometers, through Colorado, Utah and into Nevada.

Anyone that visits the craters I've discovered should bring dilute hydrochloric acid for field testing of carbonate rocks at those impact sites. That will help sort out specimens from "the common rock types of the valley that could be easily mistaken for impact related rocks (tuffs, breccias, rhyolites)" that Geomatt is concerned with. Putting a couple of drops on the impact breccia will show vigorous bubbling.

I hope this helps everyone better understand this matter.

Sincerely,

ASTROBLEME

Posted by: Gene Kooper Mar 18 2017, 01:03 AM

QUOTE (GeoMatt @ Mar 17 2017, 11:28 AM) *
Gene - I'm ok with the use of the "38th Parallel Lineament", as the term predates any work Mr. Tonko has ever published on the feature. However, published peer reviewed literature (that I've come across) does not include several of the features that he includes in the lineament. I'm not sure how one would argue 38th Parallel Lineament vs. Tonko Lineament, my guess is that there would be some push back in peer review. If ever proven, I would see this as an extension of the 38th Parallel Lineament, not a renamed Tonko Lineament. The majority of features in the "Tonko Lineament" have been previously identified and the lineament named, and they would be attributable to the same impact event. But feature naming is well ahead of this discussion, you have to make a defendable discovery before you worry about the name.

I have no problem with the use of lineament with the 38th parallel structures. In fact, that aligns well with my previous definition of a lineament. For the sake of illustration, I have included the link to a Wiki article on the 38th parallel structures (also called 38th parallel lineament).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/38th_parallel_structures

The quote below shows that there are associated geologic structures to the proposed impact sites.

QUOTE
....are a series of circular depressions or deformations stretching 700 km (435 mi) across southern Illinois and Missouri into eastern Kansas at a latitude of roughly 38 degrees north.

Rampino and Volk (1996) postulated that these structures could be the remains of a serial meteorite strike in the late Mississippian or early Pennsylvanian periods. Difficulty in determining the age of many of the structures and doubts about the exogenic origins of several of them leave some geologists skeptical of this hypothesis. As of 2016, only two of the structures, Crooked Creek (320 ± 80 Ma) and Decaturville (< 300 Ma), are listed as confirmed in the Earth Impact Database.[2]

There is evidence that at least some of them, such as Hicks Dome, are volcanic in origin. They are associated with faults and fractured rock, and are accompanied by igneous rocks and mineral deposits. Hicks Dome is a structural dome which has its central Devonian core displaced upward some 4,000 feet in relation to the surrounding strata. The dome has small associated igneous dikes around its flanks.

Like I said, drawing a line through these features and calling it a lineament certainly fits the definition I gave before. However, I do take exception with Mr. Tonko arbitrarily extending that line all the way to the Alamo impact site and calling that "line" a lineament. In my opinion, Mr. Tonko is doing nothing more than connecting dots together with a baseless inference that there are tectonic structures along his "lineament". That is akin to extending the Colorado Mineral Belt across the prairie until it intersects the Sudbury structure.

As far as I'm concerned Mr. Tonko can trademark the term if he is so smitten by it. That doesn't change the fact that he is misusing the term.

On a humorous note, the last paragraph of the Wiki article seems to want it both ways. The Earth is inferred to have insufficient mass to pull apart a comet like Jupiter did with Shoemaker Levy 9. They then finish by stating that, "serial impacts on the Moon can be seen in several chains of craters" which implies that the Moon was somehow able to do what the Earth most likely cannot. I'd be interested in seeing the results of some number crunching by astrophysicists regarding how the Earth could pull a comet apart so that the impacts would start in Illinois and end in Nevada.

For me the key to proving that the "Tonko Lineament" was caused by a disaggregated comet is not the fact that they lie on a "straight" line, but whether the ages of each of the potential impact sites can be correlated to the same time. The Wiki article indicates that the events could have happened anywhere from the Late Devonian to the Mississippian or Pennsylvanian periods. Mr. Tonko's hypothesis may be correct, but this discussion reminds me of Alfred Wegener and his Continental Drift theory. It was discredited until the hard science was conducted. Until then, I will remain a skeptical geologist who finds Mr. Tonko's hypothesis intriguing, but no more.

Slightly off topic WRT lineaments, but pertinent to the discussions on impact craters and diamonds is some recent research done by my old remote sensing professor, Dr. Keenan Lee. He is now an emeritus professor at Mines so he has the freedom to follow his intellectual curiosities. He has done quite a bit of research on the Tunguska event and the Popigai impact structure, both in Siberia. Here is an article on his MInes web page regarding the http://inside.mines.edu/UserFiles/File/Geology/Popigai.pdf

Folks here may find the last section on "impact diamonds" intriguing.

Thanks for your input GeoMatt.

Posted by: Gene Kooper Mar 19 2017, 11:32 AM

I ran across an interesting presentation at the 2012 Rocky Mountain Section GSA conference in Albuquerque, NM. The presentation was the last talk of the Meteorites and Impact Craters (GSA Planetary Geology Division) session. Here is a link to the abstract of Joel G. Duncan's presentation.

https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2012RM/finalprogram/abstract_203338.htm

QUOTE
Remote sensing and extensive field studies have revealed a previously unknown cluster of impact structures in the Colorado Front Range Mountains. Seven circular structures ranging from 10 km to 30 km in diameter were identified with USGS LIDAR as well as Google Earth satellite imagery in the Front Range west of I-25 between Denver and Colorado Springs.

I am most interested in the Lake George impact structure as many years ago I had conducted a lineament analysis north of Lake George. At the time I thought the radial and ring linear features were related to a small stock to the southwest. I used the lineament analysis to locate lode mining claims for my client.

The last paragraph of the abstract may be of interest to some here.

QUOTE
Clustering strongly suggests that the impacts were essentially simultaneous and therefore formed during the same impact event. A maximum age of the impact structures is established by shatter cones found in sandstone of the Cambrian Sawatch Formation at the northwest end of the Woodland Park graben. Several impact structures are cut by Laramide faults (K- Eocene) giving an upper age limit for the impact event.

Included in the link is the PowerPoint presentation with several graphics showing the impact structures, shatter cones and diaplectic glass.

Posted by: ASTROBLEME Mar 25 2017, 05:44 PM

Quote from Gene Kooper to GeoMatt;

"Like I said, drawing a line through these features and calling it a lineament certainly fits the definition I gave before. However, I do take exception with Mr. Tonko arbitrarily extending that line all the way to the Alamo impact site and calling that "line" a lineament. In my opinion, Mr. Tonko is doing nothing more than connecting dots together with a baseless inference that there are tectonic structures along his "lineament". That is akin to extending the Colorado Mineral Belt across the prairie until it intersects the Sudbury structure."

My response:

The research resulting in my discovery of the Tonko Lineament and the link to a mass extinction event is not done "arbitrarily" nor is it "a baseless inference" as the opined comment suggests. I've conducted numerous literature reviews of research published in similar efforts, traveled extensively for field work and contracted for detailed laboratory analysis of several sample specimens that I collected over the years. This work is still ongoing after more than a decade. It is difficult and done at my own expense, so please bear with me.

I did not intend to offend anyone by my use of my name in my discovery. It was my intent to aid prospectors working in these areas with this new information and encourage those interested to try and collect specimens for themselves.

Sincerely,

ASTROBLEME
(aka Mr. Tonko)

Posted by: ASTROBLEME Apr 18 2017, 05:41 PM

Hello Everyone,

There is a growing controversy within the Meteorite Community. The "SNC meteorites" (Shergottite, Nakhlite and Chassingite) have been proclaimed to be of Martian origin based on what was reasonably surmised about Mars decades ago. Now that more and more data is being collected from Mars by orbiting satellites and rovers operating on the surface, the question is "why don't the SNC meteorites trend with the rover data?"

Based on the more recent data collection, it is conceivable that Mars is substantially different from the early scientific community's understanding. There are very few meteorites that actually match up to the newer data.

I've placed my data points onto the Harker diagram that includes 2015 data from Sautter et al. The SNC meteorites are in blue, the earth rock is in red and the rover data is in green. Having specimens in hand that look like rocks photographed on Mars, along with petrochemistry that matches data being collected on Mars...leaves me pretty confidant that the meteorite fragments I'm collecting have a high probability of being from Mars.

ASTROBLEME


Posted by: ASTROBLEME Dec 16 2018, 06:40 PM

I'm looking forward to data from the InSight Lander.

ASTROBLEME

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