504 H. L. FAIECHILD ORIGIN OP METEOR CRATER, ARIZONA 



"This meteoric material is mixed with the usual filling material of the crater, 

 the crushed debris of the strata penetrated, in the proportion of from a trace 

 to 3 per cent. 



"Three of the bore holes have been barren of meteoric material. 



"Three of the holes have penetrated the underlying red beds at depths re- 

 spectively of 830, 860, and 870 feet. 



"Fourteen of the holes have certainly, and the remaining two probably, pene- 

 trated sandstone apparently in place and almost or entirely unaffected by the 

 shock of the impact which produced the crater. 



"No evidence of volcanic activity or hot-spring action whatever has been 

 observed in any of the material penetrated by any of the holes. 



"All depths as given above are below the floor of the crater, which is itself 

 about 440 feet below the level of the surrounding plain." 



The uncrushed sandstone which was pierced by the drilling, as noted 

 above, has been described as follows in a recent letter from Mr Holsinger : 



. . . "as we commenced drilling in the flat northeast of the shaft house 

 we encountered sandstone, solid rock, at about 160 to 200 feet. We have from 

 250 to 400 feet of this, and then break through into finely crushed sandstone 

 mixed with meteoric material. A great slide of rock seems to have fallen back 

 into the hole. ... I have secured many cores from this slide, showing that 

 it is unaltered sandstone dipping at an angle of about 40 degrees. This slide 

 covers 4 or 5 acres that we have now explored, and possibly much more." 



The following articles have been published during the present year. 



George P. Merrill : On a peculiar form of metamorphism in siliceous sand- 

 stone. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 32, p. 547. 



George P. Merrill and Wirt Tassiu : Contributions to the study of the Canyon 

 Diablo meteorites. Smith. Misc. Coll., vol. 50, September 12, 1907, pp. 203-214. 



F. N. Guild : Coon Mountain crater. Science, vol. 26, July 5, 1907, pp. 24-25. 



These papers develop no facts in opposition to the meteoric theory of 

 the crater genesis. The last mentioned article admits the absence of any 

 visible proofs of volcanism, and fails to note the many facts which 

 support the meteoric hypothesis. 



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