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The Meteor Crater located east of Flagstaff, near Winslow, in the northern Arizona desert, is the world's best preserved meteorite. The asteroid collided with Earth at 26,000 miles per hour with the same force as 20 million tons of dynamite, and hit land exactly 50,000 years ago. The Meteor Cater is a mile across, and 2.4 miles wide in circumference, also being 550 feet deep. The Crater consists of an international tourist venue with outdoor observation trails, an air conditioned indoor viewing, a wide screen movie theater, an interactive discovery center, and a unique gift and rock shop, among other things.
The Meteor Crater was formerly known as the Canyon Diablo Crater. Scientists also refer to it as Barringer Crater in honor of Daniel Barringer, who was the first person to imply that the hole was produced from a meteorite.
When Europeans discovered it, it was completely covered with over 3o tons of meteoric iron.
A man named Grove Karl Gilbert investigated the crater, and assumed it was the result of a volcanic steam explosion. He then found out he was incorrect, and concluded it was in fact, a meteor crater.
Daniel Barringer agreed it was from a large iron-metallic meteorite. Barringer's Company then bought 640 acres around the center of the crater in 1903, from President Theodore Roosevelt. The Standard Iron Company did research on where the crater came from throughout the years 1903 to 1905. They concluded it came from a furious impact. Many people didn't believe an asteroid could have cause this giant wonder, considering they were reluctant to the role of meteorites in terrestrial geology.
Currently, the owners of the crater plan to turn it into a thriving amusement park. They claim it to be "the first proven, best-preserved meteorite crater on earth," where they want to turn it into "the world's largest swimming pool."
The impact of the collision overturned and inverted the layers to one or two kilometers outward of the crater's edge. Which is actually a huge distance if you think about it.
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