Meteorite Craters (Paperback)

by Kathleen Mark (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE twentieth century, an enormous bowl-shaped hole in the high plains of northern Arizona was investigated by a mining engineer and his associates. The hole was almost three quarters of a mile wide-a little over one kilometer¹-and it penetrated thick layers of subsurface rock. The investigators concluded that it was created thousands of years ago when a mass of meteoritic iron struck the earth, and they produced extensive evidence in support of their claim.

From the Inside Flap
The scientific community has argued for decades over the origin of giant craters on the earth. In a highly readable fashion, Kathleen Mark recounts the fascinating detective story of how scientists came to recognize metorite craters, both ancient and relatively recent. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press; First Trade Paperback Edition edition (November 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816515689
• ISBN-13: 978-0816515684
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,243,988 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A comprehensive account accessable to laymen, October 2, 1999

By A Customer

This is a thorough account of meteorite craters intended mainly for the layman. However it does not shortchange the technical side when necessary. It uses the historical method, unrolling the story of meteorites and meteorite craters from about the 17th century to the present. It starts with the story of how scientists came to accept stones falling from the sky as a real phenomenon. It then proceeds to the long process whereby scientist were lead to understanding of what geological structures on earth are impact related and how to distinguish them from other types of geological structures. This is not as easy as you might think as this book makes clear. In fact many respected geologists did not accept that there were any meteorite craters on earth at all until well into the twentieth century.

I prefer the historical method of presenting scientific subjects as used in this book since knowing the history of how we got to where we are makes much more sense of the current state of our knowledge.

This book is so thorough that it can be a little dry at times. I was originally going to give it a 3 star rating instead of 4. However, when I picked up the book to do this review I noticed how well thumbed it was. This is because although the book is written as a historical narrative it is thorough enough to use as a reference work. When I ran across a reference to the Sudbury structure in the news I looked it up this book to get the background. When I needed an example of how science proceeds in the absence of direct experimental data and with mostly anecdotal evidence I looked up the story of how scientist came to accept meteorites as real phenomenon by the beginning of the 19th century. It has plenty of footnotes and references if you want more specific information. This book can serve as a historical narrative of, survey of, or reference for, meteorite craters.

Some nits: This book has a lot of illustrations but because of the nature of the subject it could use more. The author occasionally forgets her audience and uses technical geological terms without explanation. There is one complaint that there is no help for. Many questions are left hanging at the end of the book. This is inevitable since it is an account of a story that is still unfolding. Still, the book was copyrighted in 1987 so updating it would help some.

I would recommend this book to any adult having an interest in meteorite craters and I am including non-specialist geologists as well as scientifically inclined laymen.

I also think it would make a nice gift for an inquiring teenager or maybe a bright sixth grader. They will not understand everything that is in this book but there is a lot that they will understand. Just the kind of thing to stretch their minds.