Nov 16,
2006
Aorounga Crater
Satellite radar images of the Sahara desert north of Chad
have revealed the presence of
craters
not easily noticed in normal aerial photographs. But the
cause of these formations may lie outside the lexicon of
standard geology today.
The Aorounga crater in the
three-dimensional image above is almost 19 miles (31
kilometers) in diameter. And it does not stand alone in the
Saharan desert. Its coordinates are, N 19° 6' E 19° 15',
while the
Kebira structure we
discussed earlier can be found at N 24° 30' E 25° 0'. Both
craters lie within an area of chaotic terrain that closely
resembles the surface of Mars. (See
Google Map) Another formation, the Oasis crater,
can be seen slightly west of Kebira in the satellite image.
Some of the more interesting aspects of Aorounga are the
"implausible" parallel grooves and ridges that run through
the surrounding landscape, as well as through the crater
itself. Wallace Thornhill and other advocates of the
"Electric Universe" see these as one of the more common
signatures of electrical arcing on rocky bodies in the solar
system. The deep gouges and scalloped cliffs are reminiscent
of
Martian features that electrical theorists
identify as scars left by electric arcs. The crater pattern
is also eerily similar to the unexplained “pedestal craters”
on Mars imaged by NASA orbiters—even the floors of many such
craters stand higher the surrounding terrain. (Example from
the Mars Global Surveyor seen
here.)
The press release from Boston University listed the Kebira
formation as “millions of years old”, corresponding to the
dates fixed for other areas of the Gilf Kebir Plateau. But,
is that the case? Could intense electromagnetic bombardment
influence the apparent age accepted by the scientific
community?
The most common dating method is by measuring the isotopic
ratios of particular elements. For example, uranium 235
decays into lead 207 with a half-life of 700 million years.
That means, when the rock was first formed, it contained a
fixed quantity of uranium 235 and every 700 million years
thereafter it will exhibit half the amount of uranium 235
and an increasing amount of lead 207.
Because a mineral sample’s age depends on that sample
existing today exactly as when it was initially formed, if
it has been affected by radioactivity, or heat, or a blast
or electricity, any measurement of its age will be
inaccurate. Therefore, if a multi-billion joule electric
discharge, sufficient to excavate a crater 19 miles in
diameter were to strike the earth, the gamma and x-ray
pulses would drastically alter the decay rate, the isotopic
ratios and, perhaps, form new elements within the
rocks.
For these and other reasons presented in these Pictures of
the Day, it is not unreasonable to ask if Kebira and its
surrounding craters may be the remains of electrical events,
perhaps occurring in a more recent past than geologists have
previously imagined.
By Stephen Smith
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