Chesapeake Invader: Discovering America's Giant Meteorite Crater

摘要: Thirty-five million years ago, a meteorite three miles wide and moving sixty times faster than bullet slammed into the sea bed near what is now Chesapeake Bay. The impact, more powerful combined explosion of every nuclear bomb on Earth, blasted out crater fifty one mile deep. Shock waves radiated through Earth for thousands miles, shaking foundations Appalachians, as gigantic winds white-hot debris transformed eastern seaboard lifeless wasteland. "Chesapeake Invader" story this cataclysm, told by man who discovered it happened. Wylie Poag, senior scientist with U.S. Geological Survey, explains when why catastrophe occurred, destruction caused, how scientists unearthed evidence meteorite's effects are felt even today.Poag begins reviewing in decades after World War II uncovered series seemingly inexplicable geological features along Virginia coast. As he worked to interpret these puzzling findings 1980s his own field paleontology, Poag began suspect that underlying explanation was impact giant meteorite. He guides us path dozens colleagues subsequently followed as--in true scientific tradition--they outrageous hypotheses, painstaking research, equal parts good bad luck they toward discovery turned be largest We join lab, deep-sea drilling ships, road clues Virginia, heated debates about findings. introduces clear, accessible language science behind impacts, life death thirty-five ways which shaped Bay area by, example, determining Bay's very location creating notoriously briny groundwater underneath Virginia. This compelling work detective paean joys satisfactions science.