(based on a presentation given 8-3-2009 to the Warren Astronomical Society)
Yep, Earth is a planet too! Many of us think Earth is separate from the solar system, but au contraire! Earth is also subject to all the phenomena that is exerted on all the other planets, including collisions with dust, rocks, asteroids, and comets. Like the craters we see on the moon and other planets and moons in the solar system, earth is also subjected to cratering. It’s just a little harder to find them on Earth. This is due to erosion of wind, water, ice and plate tectonics along with trees and vegetation.
There are about two hundred scientifically verified craters that have been documented on the earth so far and more are being found and investigated. What my wife and I discovered is there are several craters you can visit here in the Great Lakes! Here are three. One is buried but big; the other two are above ground, so, like us, you can have a picnic on a crater rim!
CanAm Crater, Port Huron-Sarnia
A multi-ring crater 62 miles diameter under Lake Huron.Is We’ve been picnicking on this crater rim for some years before we even realized it! Part of the reason is it’s under 2 km of Paleozoic sedimentary rock, AND under Lake Huron! But the Ontario shoreline conforms to the southeastern part of the principal ring according to aeromagnetic data and this may indicate that the structure has had a secondary effect on the deposition or erosion of Paleozoic strata.
The Can-Am structure is directly north of the city of Sarnia. From Bloomfield Hills, Square Lake Rd East to I-75 N to the M-59 Exit east. Past Utica, merge onto I-94 toward Port Huron and cross into Canada. Enter the city of Sarnia and 402. Get on Michigan and turn left on Alfred St. Follow the signs to Canatara Park and the South Shore of Lake Huron for a picnic on a crater rim!
Though it’s further away, I like going to the Pinery Provincial which is in the country to the north. You can camp there and the sandy hills give it a more, “cratery” feeling as you overlook Lake Huron. Check Mapquest or the Pinery Provincial park website for directions.
Serpent Mound Crater, Peebles OH
This is one of our favorite craters to visit! The Serpent Mound is on State Route 73, six miles north of State Route 32 and 20 miles south of Bainbridge in Adams County. It’s about a four hour drive from the Cranbrook museum. The crater itself is a small, complex crater with a central uplift and is about 4 miles in diameter. The northern crater rim is mostly intact and with rugged terrain and nearly completely wooded, but the southern edge is highly eroded by a millennia of erosion by three nearby large creeks.
But it also has a wonderful archaeological addition – a pre-Woodland culture effigy mound on the eroded cliff created by Brush Creek and on the crater rim! Called Serpent Mound, it is the largest animal effigy mound in the world. What’s amazing is it contains approximately 37,907 cubic feet of soil built with nothing more than stone-age tools made of deer antlers for picks, fresh-water clamshells lashed to sticks for shovels and woven root baskets to transport the soil!
Interestingly, there is a strong astronomical connection. The mound has been roughly dated to about 1066AD (884 BP). This happens to be the time when Halley’s Comet made an appearance and perhaps it provided the impetus to start building it. Additional surveys have confirmed a further astronomical relation–it appears the serpent mound was a giant lunar calendar!
The curving sinuses line up with various lunar phases and probably allowed the early indians to calculate lunar months and aided them in planting, harvesting, and festivals. In fact the surrounding area is chock full of indian mounds of all sorts and makes the visit incredibly worthwhile!
Serpent Mound
3850 State Route 73
Peebles, OH 45660
PHONE:
937-587-2796
1-800-752-2757 (toll free)
The Sudbury Crater, Sudbury ON
The Mother-lode of craters and in our region! The remnant is an oblong, 20 X 40 mile multi-ring crater. Original diameter estimated at 160 miles. Squeezed by over a billion years by plate tectonics and mountain building and erosion into it’s current shape. The richest source of various ores in Canada. You can drive through the crater rim at various points and see for yourself at the road cuts the various rock formations that were created when the asteroid hit the area 1.85 billion years ago.
My wife and I drove all through the crater. If you know something about geology, you can appreciate the rocks in the road cuts that prove a vast catastrophe struck here. By the time we finished roaming around this crater, we didn’t have time to stay for a picnic, and also didn’t have time to stop in Sudbury to view the museum, planetarium or take a mine tour. But you can do all these things if you plan to take time to explore the area.
Total Travel Estimates: Time:12 hours Distance: 461.90 miles.–Take the the same route as one would for visiting Sarnia and the CanAm Crater above. Once in Canada take RTE-401 E/HWY-401 E exit toward TORONTO.
Merge onto PROVINCIAL ROUTE 401 E.
Merge onto HWY-407 ETR E via EXIT 330B (Portions toll).
Take the HWY-400 N exit, EXIT 66, toward BARRIE.
Merge onto PROVINCIAL ROUTE 400 N.
Take the HWY-400 N exit toward HWY-69/PARRY SOUND/SUDBURY.
Merge onto PROVINCIAL ROUTE 400 N.
PROVINCIAL ROUTE 400 N becomes PROVINCIAL ROUTE 69/TRANS CANADA HWY.
PROVINCIAL ROUTE 69/TRANS CANADA HWY becomes RR-46.
Turn RIGHT onto PARIS ST/RR-80.
Turn LEFT onto BRADY ST/RR-49.
Welcome to SUDBURY, ON.
This last figure shows a color-coded geologic map of the crater. The purple is where erosion has exposed the mineral-rich portion of what was originally a 11,000 cubic miles of molten rock from the initial impact! Hydrothermal action later brought hot mineral laden water that deposited concentrated metal ores in the fissures, cracks and other spaces between the rock, which according to one authority took 100,000 years to cool.
And when you come to contemplate all this, don’t forget the cooler and picnic basket!
