. Collected reprints, Essa Institute for Oceanography. Oceanography Meteor Crater, Arizona On four mornings last November I spent the early predawn twilight on the rim of Arizona's Meteor Crater, observing the Ikeda-Seki sun-grazing comet through a Ques- tar telescope. I had traveled there from the annual Metcoritical So- ciety meeting at Odessa, Texas, with Richard Barringer, son of D. Mor- eau Barringer. It was the elder Bar- ringer who, at the turn of the cen- tury, first recognized Meteor Crater as the site of a giant meteorite ex- plosion in the recent geologic past. He was
. Collected reprints, Essa Institute for Oceanography. Oceanography Meteor Crater, Arizona On four mornings last November I spent the early predawn twilight on the rim of Arizona's Meteor Crater, observing the Ikeda-Seki sun-grazing comet through a Ques- tar telescope. I had traveled there from the annual Metcoritical So- ciety meeting at Odessa, Texas, with Richard Barringer, son of D. Mor- eau Barringer. It was the elder Bar- ringer who, at the turn of the cen- tury, first recognized Meteor Crater as the site of a giant meteorite ex- plosion in the recent geologic past. He was so intrigued by this yawn- Robeht S. Diktz is a Research Occanographer witJi the US Coast and Geodetic Survey in Washing- ton, DC ing hole in the ground that he spent the last twenty-five years of his life (from 1903 to 1927) attempting to mine the great meteorite he as- sumed lay buried beneath the crater floor—a heroic venture fraught with difficulties and disappointment, and unique in mining annals. The Bar- ringer family still maintains the crater as a public trust and fosters research in the field of meteorities. It seemed to me singularly appro- priate to be observing this spectacu- lar comet from the rim of a crater created in a flaming instant 25,000 years ago by the impact of another celestial object. Meteorite craters are rare geomorphic forms; only about a score are known from all over the world, so we are fortunate 50 in having the finest example on na- tive soil. There is only one other meteorite crater here in the United States. It is near Odessa, Texas, and it was the reason for the convening of the Meteoritical Society meeting there. The Odessa site is small and it has been badly despoiled Since its discovery in 1932. But recently a group of public-spirited citizens of Odessa have restored the site, and its future as a fascinating natural feature is now assured. The list of large (more than 3,000 feet in diameter) meteorite craters of the world is short, even
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