Arizona Sketches [33]
feet of limestone and beneath the limestone five hundred feet more of white sandstone. This arrangement of the rocks is plainly seen in the walls of Canon Diablo.
The displaced strata of rocks in the hole are tilted and stand outwards and great boulders of red sandstone and limestone lie scattered all about. If the hole had been made by an explosion from below large pieces of rock from each one of the different rock strata would have been thrown out; but, while as just stated, there are plenty of huge blocks of red sandstone and limestone, there are no large pieces of white sandstone. After the superficial layers of rock had been broken up and expelled en masse, the deeper rock of white sandstone, being more confined, could not reach the surface in the shape of boulders, but had first to be broken up and ground to powder before it could escape. Then the white sandstones in the form of fine sand was blown skywards by the collision and afterwards settled down upon the mountain. The mountain is covered with this white sand, which could only have come out of the big hole as there is no other white sand or sandstone found anywhere else upon the entire plain.
In the vicinity of the mountain about ten tons of meteorites have been found, varying in size from the fraction of an ounce to one thousand pounds or more. Most of the meteorites were found by Mr. Volz, who searched diligently every foot of ground for miles around. The smaller pieces were picked up on or near the rim, and they increased in size in proportion as they were distant from the mountain until, on a circle eight miles out, the largest piece was found. Meteorites were found upon all sides of the mountain but they seemed to be thickest on the east side.
The writer first visited the mountain in the summer of 1901 and it was the greatest surprise of his six weeks' trip sightseeing in northern Arizona where are found many natural wonders. He was fortunate enough to find a three pound meteorite within five minutes after arriving on the rim, which Mr. Volz said was the first specimen found by anyone in over four years.
Professor G. K. Gilbert of the United States Geological Survey visited the mountain several years ago to investigate the phenomenon and, if possible, to determine its origin by scientific test. He gave the results of his researches in a very able and comprehensive address,[3] delivered before the Geological Society of Washington, D.C. The existing conditions did not seem to fit his theories, and he concluded his work without arriving at any definite conclusion.
[3] The Origin of Hypotheses. 1895.
After disposing of several hypotheses as being incompetent to prove the origin of the mountain he decided to try the magnetic test. He assumed that if such a meteorite was buried there the large mass of metallic iron must indicate its presence by magnetic attraction. By means of the latest scientific apparatus he conducted an elaborate magnetic experiment which gave only negative results.
He discussed at length the various hypotheses which might explain the origin of the crater and concluded his notable address as follows:
"Still another contribution to the subject, while it does not increase the number of hypotheses, is nevertheless important in that it tends to diminish the weight of the magnetic evidence and thus to reopen the question which Mr. Baker and I supposed we had settled. Our fellow-member, Mr. Edwin E. Howell, through whose hands much of the meteoric iron had passed, points out that each of the iron masses, great and small, is in itself a complete individual. They have none of the characters that would be found if they had been broken one from another, and yet, as they are all of one type and all reached the earth within a small district, it must be supposed that they were originally connected in some way.
"Reasoning by analogy from the characters of other meteoric bodies, he infers that the irons were all included in a large mass of some different material, either crystalline rock, such as constitutes the
The displaced strata of rocks in the hole are tilted and stand outwards and great boulders of red sandstone and limestone lie scattered all about. If the hole had been made by an explosion from below large pieces of rock from each one of the different rock strata would have been thrown out; but, while as just stated, there are plenty of huge blocks of red sandstone and limestone, there are no large pieces of white sandstone. After the superficial layers of rock had been broken up and expelled en masse, the deeper rock of white sandstone, being more confined, could not reach the surface in the shape of boulders, but had first to be broken up and ground to powder before it could escape. Then the white sandstones in the form of fine sand was blown skywards by the collision and afterwards settled down upon the mountain. The mountain is covered with this white sand, which could only have come out of the big hole as there is no other white sand or sandstone found anywhere else upon the entire plain.
In the vicinity of the mountain about ten tons of meteorites have been found, varying in size from the fraction of an ounce to one thousand pounds or more. Most of the meteorites were found by Mr. Volz, who searched diligently every foot of ground for miles around. The smaller pieces were picked up on or near the rim, and they increased in size in proportion as they were distant from the mountain until, on a circle eight miles out, the largest piece was found. Meteorites were found upon all sides of the mountain but they seemed to be thickest on the east side.
The writer first visited the mountain in the summer of 1901 and it was the greatest surprise of his six weeks' trip sightseeing in northern Arizona where are found many natural wonders. He was fortunate enough to find a three pound meteorite within five minutes after arriving on the rim, which Mr. Volz said was the first specimen found by anyone in over four years.
Professor G. K. Gilbert of the United States Geological Survey visited the mountain several years ago to investigate the phenomenon and, if possible, to determine its origin by scientific test. He gave the results of his researches in a very able and comprehensive address,[3] delivered before the Geological Society of Washington, D.C. The existing conditions did not seem to fit his theories, and he concluded his work without arriving at any definite conclusion.
[3] The Origin of Hypotheses. 1895.
After disposing of several hypotheses as being incompetent to prove the origin of the mountain he decided to try the magnetic test. He assumed that if such a meteorite was buried there the large mass of metallic iron must indicate its presence by magnetic attraction. By means of the latest scientific apparatus he conducted an elaborate magnetic experiment which gave only negative results.
He discussed at length the various hypotheses which might explain the origin of the crater and concluded his notable address as follows:
"Still another contribution to the subject, while it does not increase the number of hypotheses, is nevertheless important in that it tends to diminish the weight of the magnetic evidence and thus to reopen the question which Mr. Baker and I supposed we had settled. Our fellow-member, Mr. Edwin E. Howell, through whose hands much of the meteoric iron had passed, points out that each of the iron masses, great and small, is in itself a complete individual. They have none of the characters that would be found if they had been broken one from another, and yet, as they are all of one type and all reached the earth within a small district, it must be supposed that they were originally connected in some way.
"Reasoning by analogy from the characters of other meteoric bodies, he infers that the irons were all included in a large mass of some different material, either crystalline rock, such as constitutes the