"Now for something totally different."

[lionkingcmsl]

Spurred by kelloggs2066's post of two galactic clusters colliding and looking at a map of the southeastern U.S, and Mexico, I came up with a thought:

What if the coast of Texas and Louisiana was formed by a meteor collision? It is circular enough.

As of what I last heard, most geophysicists concur that the meteor impact, that wiped out the dinosaurs, formed the circular portion of the Yucatan peninsula.

So why couldn't there be a older impact crater that formed the Texan coast.

Here is what I came up with:


Green circle is that of the Yucatan impact (approximate location and size). Red is my hypothetical impact. Yellow is where the two impacts overlap. Blue is a possible impact site off of Florida/Georgia/South Carolina.

The last is unlikely due to no "shocked rocks" found in the region, that I know of, and the type of coastline. I believe that this was formed by natural erosion/current processes.

Now I realize that you could fit any size circle into any area, in fact I could put a circle into the Delaware Bay and make the same argument, but it is the size of the circle that makes my point. I also think Hudson Bay might be an impact crater given its size and shape, though I think someone already has suggested it.

So, you fellow LJ'ers with more of a background in Earth Science, what do you think? Is it possible, or am I totally off the mark?

Edit: A thought occured to me; why couldn't they be pieces of the same asteroid/comet/whatever that struck the Earth at the same time (Within days of each other. We're talking geologic time scales here)? Maybe the FL/GA/SC curve could be an impact site because of the break up. Interesting thought, no?

Also, I am well aware of the Contential Shelf that extends off of the coast of the eastern seaboard. The impact site for FL/GA/SC should actually be moved a few hundred miles off shore, but my image gives a better illustratiion I think.

Comments

[kamau-d-lyon.livejournal.com]

I recall a Discovery or Learning Channel story on just such research. It seems that there are a large number of impact sites that until recently were thought to be natural lakes or such. Many are small on a geological scale but some are sizable. I also recall evidence in one of those of a breakup because of a number (five I believe) of lakes in a line over long distance. This supposedly indicated one object breaking up and impacting multiple places along its trajectory.

[level-head.livejournal.com]

Hudson Bay is likely to involve such a crater.

But this not as direct a connection as what you might think. In millions of years, these impacts are weathered and eroded and buried.

For example, take a look at the crater called "Chesapeake Bay" that is actually buried underneath it:
http://www.unb.ca/passc/ImpactDatabase/images/chesapeake.htm

Also, the Gulf of Mexico was fairly close to its current shape before the Chicxulub Impact, and there is no cratering needed to account for the rest of the shape in the area. As LK indicates, this was "natural" (i.e. non-catastrophic) processes involved.

Such large impacts are not clustered, althogh there have been small cluster impacts (often breaking up during re-entry).

I have a piece in my office of a meteor that did that coming into Namibia about 80,000 years ago.

LionKingCMSL, your map displaces the Chicxulub crater to fit the coast. Check where it actually is. Screws up the theory a bit, doesn't it? ];-)

===|==============/ Level Head

[lowen-kind.livejournal.com]

Your notations and corrections are noted.

I didn't know exactly where the "Chicxulub" crater was, nor size, and sought best guess, as noted in my original post.

As I had stated in my post, it was only a theory, and just something I had wondered about.

Don't forget, plate tectonics were first theorized when someone noticed the similarities of the African and South American coasts. ;=3

Would've been neat if I was correct however. ;=3

[kamau-d-lyon.livejournal.com]

Thanks, that is an interesting site. I'll have to check it out a bit more in the future.

[level-head.livejournal.com]

You're welcome!

===|==============/ Level Head

Totally OT :)

[makovette.livejournal.com]

Heya Lk,

There's a thread on Scott's forum that I think your expertise would be appreciated in:

http://www.talkaboutcomics.com/viewtopic.php?t=21114

Hopefully you'll have time to read the thread and make an appropriate comment or two.

Thanks!
Mako