Images of mysterious crater are video screen grabs
Last week we reported on a mysterious mile-long crack that appeared overnight in agricultural land in a rural part of the Mexican state of Sonora.
This week folks in Circleville, Utah, were left wondering what might have created a huge round crater inside an irrigation pond owned by Gary Dalton, who jokingly described the phenomenon as “Martian art.”
A few weeks ago, Dalton claimed to have spotted a bright-red meteor streaking across the sky, adding a touch more intrigue to this mystery.
Much of the pond had been drained for irrigation, and when sunlight was at just the right angle, concentric circles, the largest about 25 feet in diameter, came sharply into view.
The outer circle was green; clearly a dip in the earth covered in algae. The inner circle looked more like a crater; it was as though something had crash-landed, or there had been an eruption of some sort.
“I saw this blasted thing that no one had ever seen,” Dalton told KSL.com.
Experts from the Utah Geological Survey launched an investigation and lead scientist Bill Lund was left scratching his head, at least initially.
“Well, yeah, we’ve got several theories,” he said. “[But] most of them have gone up in smoke.”
The top guesses were that the rings were created by a natural spring beneath the pond, or by a pipeline leak. But Lund confirmed that there is no spring, and no piping, beneath the pond.
The scientist was asked whether methane gas might have escaped from below and created the crater, but Lund discounted that theory, saying this isn’t coal country, where such a phenomenon could be possible.
Dalton’s “Martian art” comment no longer seemed so ludicrous, and that fiery object he saw streaking across the sky seemed to at least represent a possible explanation.
Lund, however, ruled out the possibility that the rings were caused by a meteor crash, especially since Lund’s observation was weeks before the rings were spotted.
“We don’t think it’s an impact crater,” Lund told KSL.com. “We don’t think anything hit here.”
So what has Lund concluded, after a prolonged inspection that involved hovering over the crater via platform-lift, and probing the crater with a pitch fork and tape measure?
He credits a geologic phenomenon known as collapsable soils, a condition created by repeated draining and refilling of the pond. That allows for soil ultimately to collapse under the weight of the water, creating what resembles an eruption.
“As it collapsed and compacted, it forced some air and some water up, and created this thing,” Lund explained. “It looks like a one-off thing. It happened this one time. That’s it.”
The scientist didn’t seem sold on his answer, saying, “There are still some unanswered questions here,” and that he had never seen anything like it.
But it was at least a seemingly viable explanation, providing the Daltons with an answer for their many inquiring neighbors.
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