5.5 km-wide Impact Site under California

What a fantastic Find!!

This is almost a case of tripping over something that was right under your nose...

'Crater' spied under California

Oil exploration work in California's Central Valley region has uncovered a possible space impact crater.

The 5.5km-wide bowl is buried under shale sediments west of Stockton, in San Joaquin County, and is thought to be between 37 and 49 million years old.

3-D Seismic and Well Log Aanalasys of the Victoria Island Structure

Analyses of a 3-D seismic survey and well logs in the southwestern Sacramento basin, San Joaquin County, California, have revealed a subsurface, circular, ~5.5-km-diameter anomaly that may represent a previously unrecognized complex impact crater (Figs. 1–3). This unique anomaly, buried 1,490–1,600 m below sea level under the southwestern part of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, is provisionally named the Victoria Island structure for an overlying surface geographic feature.

If anything, this should make it even more clear that we need to start to invest in astroid defence...

www.iht.com...

However... It looks like it's not going to happen any time soon....

NASA Can't Pay for Killer Asteroid Hunt

The odds are stacked up against the Earth and we are talking Economics????

I wonder what the economics of a tunguska sized event over London would be???

Tunguska event

The following image is the footprint of the Tunguska devastation mapped over London...



This should put into perspective the likelihood of a very large event... A Tunguska sized event should happen statistically once every 50 years... We are currently 100 years over due....



All the best,

NeoN HaZe.

[edit on 20-3-2007 by Neon Haze]

I find this incredibly interesting.

I've always been fascinated with craters, and so to just find
out that there is one near and below Stockton (I have relatives
that live 60 miles from there) makes it even that more tantalizing.

Nice job posting all the graphics too..

Johnny

wow,nice find there. Never knew we'd find a decent sized crater here in Cali. Interesting stuff. A lot of people dont know that california was the bottom of an ocean at one point. It's closed now,but near where i live there was hill called sharktooth mtn. Class fieldtrips would go there and collect shark teeth.

Originally posted by spanishcaravan
wow,nice find there. Never knew we'd find a decent sized crater here in Cali. Interesting stuff. A lot of people dont know that california was the bottom of an ocean at one point. It's closed now,but near where i live there was hill called sharktooth mtn. Class fieldtrips would go there and collect shark teeth.

Interesting..

If this crater was formed when Cali was under water then there would have been far reaching wide spread damage caused by tsunami.

Wasn't it Donald Rumsfeld that stated there are the known knowns the known unknowns and the unknown uknowns???

Well when it comes to potentially dangerous collision course asteroids it's certainly the Unknown Unknowns that are the real killers!!

Talking of rumsfeld reminded me of this.... A little off topic but having mentioned Rumsfeld I can't help myself...



All the best,

NeoN HaZe.

[edit on 20-3-2007 by Neon Haze]

Thanks for the good morning laugh Neonhaze.I'm reading this as I sip my coffee.To keep this thread on topic what a wake up call it is when you put up the map of London.We all seem to just go about our day worried about our job, our mortgage, little juniors braces and his sisters D in history.We never think that some big rock from space could come and take it all away.What would it take for NASA to take this seriously?Surely if this is a possibility the money from all countries all over the globe would be better spent on looking for ways to prevent this instead of fighting with each other over the earths resources.

LOL @ the Rumsfeld video!!! Hey great thread..Diffenitely something we should be talking more about...Isn't there supposed to be a big asteroid passing real close in the next few years?..So close that it could effect its path the next time it comes around?? I remember hearing something to that effect anyway..I wonder if this even makes the top ten list as a current threat with any of the worlds governments?? Seems like it should..

Interesting post.

Whenever the next one hits, I hope that I'm not anywhere close.

Originally posted by Wildbob77
Interesting post.

Whenever the next one hits, I hope that I'm not anywhere close.

You may want to set up shop on the Moon then, these suckers take out almost everything.

Anyhoo, great post!

Originally posted by Zanzibar

Originally posted by Wildbob77
Interesting post.

Whenever the next one hits, I hope that I'm not anywhere close.

You may want to set up shop on the Moon then, these suckers take out almost everything.

Anyhoo, great post!

Well, depending on the size of it yes, a big one can make Yellowstone look like a small problem.

But a smaller one, yes, don't be anywhere close, unfortunately, the exact area of where it would hit is considerably harder than predicting the location of a supereruption.

Hmm?? Not to many responses to this topic..I would have thought more people would have responded..This probably explains why nobody is doing anything to protect us..Nobody cares

Originally posted by gotanybob
Hmm?? Not to many responses to this topic..I would have thought more people would have responded..This probably explains why nobody is doing anything to protect us..Nobody cares

I often take on short, disaster recovery or security projects and I have to say that this attitude seems to be typical.

The business person doesn't want to extend capital outlay and in explaining the risk and economics of a disaster mostly they will role the dice...

But that's IT...

If we role the dice on a large meteor strike... we will LOOSE....

I am utterly amazed at projects such as the race to get to the moon, the Base on the Moon, the int. Space station etc.....

All that money could have been spent on safe guarding the planet and it's people.

What is the point in having an international space station or a base on the moon, when the entire planet is plunged into deep nuclear winter due to a 500 meter asteroid strike??

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Same old story....

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scientist... Sir we need to move the camp 100 yards to the right....

Leader.... Why?

Scientist... Because there is a 100% chance that over the next 100 years that due to erosion the cliffs will fall...

Leader (thinking)..... Not my problem... the next leader can deal with it....

Chanceller... Heerr Humm... Why should we spend our resources on this foolish endevor when we can build a large shopping area to make more money...

Leader... The people will like me for that....

100 years later....

Head line news.... Camp Destroyed by falling cliffs...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All the best,

NeoN HaZe.


[edit on 22-3-2007 by Neon Haze]

Originally posted by Neon Haze
If we role the dice on a large meteor strike... we will LOOSE....

I am utterly amazed at projects such as the race to get to the moon, the Base on the Moon, the int. Space station etc.....

All that money could have been spent on safe guarding the planet and it's people.

What is the point in having an international space station or a base on the moon, when the entire planet is plunged into deep nuclear winter due to a 500 meter asteroid strike??

I agree, but frankly they could stop with the war in Iraq for that matter, then do both a base on the moon and look for the asteroids and comets that could hit us. Of course, why don't they do that, it would make sense, and since when has a big business money spinner or politics made sense.