1905.] natural sciences of philadelphia. 903 



Confirmatory Evidence Obtained by Deeper Exploration 

 Inside Crater. 



As, in the judgment of the author and Mr. Barringer, the outside 

 indications all agreed with the theory that the crater had been pro- 

 duced by the impact of a great meteor, it was determined to explore 

 the interior for additional confirmation of this fact and also to endeavor 

 to reach the main mass of such meteor. In pursuance of this object 

 five small prospecting shafts have been put down of depths varying 

 from 30 to 200 feet, and also five bore holes from 305 to 1 ,003 feet in 

 depth. Although none of these has struck the main body of the meteor, 

 ample confirmatory evidence of the theory of the meteoric formation 

 of this hole has been obtained. 



Rock in place in the bottom of the hole has been struck, in the opinion 

 of the author, in two places. First, in shaft No. 2, 510 feet from the 

 center of the hole, in a direction fifteen degrees north of east from the 

 said center and at a depth of 147 feet; and secondly, in bore hole No. 

 5, at a distance of 250 feet southeast of said center, at a depth of 890 

 feet. The shaft penetrated the rock in place fifty-three feet and the 

 bore hole 113 feet. In the shaft the rock, while undoubtedly in place, 

 had been so crushed and disintegrated that its substance was that of a 

 bed of loose sand. But the planes and marks of stratification were 

 complete and unbroken and showed an upturning of the crushed, pre- 

 viously level strata to an angle of about forty-five degrees in a direction 

 away from a point slightly north of the center of the hole. In other 

 words, this rock in place dipped downward and outward, closely corre- 

 sponding to the rock exposed in the walls of the crater above, but was 

 much more shattered and disintegrated. 



The rock in place, penetrated by the drill hole, could be distinguished 

 only by its hardness, and, of course, its condition could not be examined. 

 In both cases the rock was sedimentary sandstone without any sign 

 of heat action whatever, either volcanic or by the action of hot water. 



The general description of the filling material in the deeper portions 

 of the hole is as follows: For a distance of 60 to 100 feet from the 

 present bottom of the crater, about its center, the hole is filled with 

 sedimentary material evidently deposited in the bottom of shallow 

 water. It is stratified horizontally, as though the sediments had been 

 washed down from the surrounding walls, either by successive wet 

 seasons or successive violent rain storms, and has been deposited in 

 approximately level sheets by wave action in shallow water. This 

 stratified material is full of small shells of various kinds, and contains 



