Some meteoric masses of great size, such as Peary's
iron meteorite found at Cape York, Greenland, and the almost equally
large mass discovered at Bacubirito, Mexico, appear to have penetrated
but slightly on striking the earth. This may be explained by supposing
that they pursued a long, horizontal course through the air before
falling. The result would be that, their original velocity having been
practically destroyed, they would drop to the ground with a velocity
nearly corresponding to that which gravity would impart within the
perpendicular distance of their final fall. A
six-hundred-and-sixty-pound meteorite, which fell at Knyahinya,
Hungary, striking at an angle of 27° from the vertical, penetrated the
ground to a depth of eleven feet.
It has been remarked that the Coon Butte meteorite may have fallen not
longer ago than a few thousand years. This is based upon the fact that
the geological indications favor the supposition that the event did
not occur more than five thousand years ago, while on the other hand
the rings of growth in the cedar-trees growing on the slopes of the
crater show that they have existed there about seven hundred years.
Prof. William H. Pickering has recently correlated this with an
ancient chronicle which states that at Cairo, Egypt, in the year 1029,
``many stars passed with a great noise.
Pages:
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187