Guidebook to the Geology of Barringer Meteorite Crater, Arizona (a.k.a. Meteor Crater)

Description

Meteoritical Society, 2007. — 154 p. The geological guidebook that follows has been prepared for the occasion of the 70th AnnualMeeting of The Meteoritical Society in Tucson, Arizona, and a society field trip to the crater. The societylast visited the crater in 1974 on a trip led by the late Eugene M. Shoemaker and one of his formerstudents, Susan W. Kieffer, who is now the distinguished Charles R. Walgreen Jr. Chair at the Universityof Illinois. Like their guidebook, the following document provides a trail-oriented geological tour of thecrater. The current guidebook relies heavily on the work of these authors, for which I thank them, butalso incorporates lessons learned about impact cratering during the intervening 30+ years.In addition, the geological processes involved in the formation of the crater have been broken downinto a series of discrete topics. The goal is to illustrate how our understanding of those topics has evolvedover the past 100+ years of study at the crater and how observations at the crater have influenced them.While our understanding of the processes involved in the crater’s formation have grown, there are also agreat number of topics that still need further research. In each section of the guidebook, I will try toidentify those unresolved issues with the hope that those comments will spawn new studies.I want to thank Drew Barringer, President of the Barringer Crater Company, and Brad Andes,President of Meteor Crater Enterprises, for their patience and response to countless questions and foragreeing to host The Meteoritical Society at the crater. I thank Carleton Moore for his insights about thecrater, Canyon Diablo meteorites, and access to samples in the Nininger Collection at Arizona StateUniversity. I thank Carolyn Shoemaker for her insights about the crater and those of her husband. BothCarleton Moore and Carolyn Shoemaker are treasured colleagues who have guided many of the activitiesat the crater for many years. I also thank Bevan French for kindly stepping in to assist with a tour of thecrater rim, while I lead a tour of the crater walls and crater floor. I thank Linda Chappell at the Lunar andPlanetary Institute (LPI) for helping me obtain copies of some of the older publications about the crater. Ithank Leanne Woolley and Ronna Hurd at LPI for their assistance with some of the illustrations in theguidebook. I thank the entire Publications and Program Services Department staff at the LPI for helpingorganize the field trip. Likewise, I thank the organizing committee of the 70th Annual Meeting of TheMeteoritical Society for promoting the field tip.As some of you may know, the Barringer family asked me to assume Gene Shoemaker’sresponsibilities at the crater after we lost him. At the time, David Roddy, who was another long-timeadvisor to the family, kindly tramped up and down the crater walls with me, providing a runningcommentary of crater lore. Unfortunately, we have since lost David too. I want to take this opportunityto thank both Gene and David for the insights they shared with me.Finally, I thank the late Daniel Moreau Barringer, for without his work and insights we may not behere today, and members of the entire Barringer family, who have dedicated themselves to thepreservation of this impact site for education and scientific research.