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Meteor Crater, Ohio?? Geophysical studies on the heals of a failed attempt to drill a water well have led to the discovery of a hole in the bedrock. This hole is approximately the size and shape of Meteor Crater, Arizona. This panoramic view shows the edge of the crater (white line) as determined by EM34-3XL ground conductivity surveys conducted during the winter of 1996-1997. Students at work in this composite photograph (left side of photo is taken due north, right side of photo is take due east) are using a gravity meter to better determine the shape and depth of the hole near the southwest rim. Bradley Trytten's 1995 thesis documents measurements that show where State Route 635 crosses the western rim of the hole, as well as seismic refraction and electrical soundings that provide evidence of a hole over 100 meters deep.
The hole is not obvious to the casual observer because it has been filled in with soft sediment and then concealed by till and a post-glacial beach ridge. There is no karst known in this bedrock, the Lockport Dolomite, in the immediate vicinity, so it is not likely that this bedrock depression, about 1 kilometer in diameter and 100 meters deep, is just a monster sinkhole.
Even if this proves to be a karst feature, it is still of geological importance because the sediments filling this hole may prove to represent a period of prehistoric life not recorded in any other rocks of the region.
Please watch this site for further developments.
Dr. Don Stierman, Associate Professor