Professor Dr. Elias Salameh / University of Jordan has announced the discovery of a huge impact site in East Jordan near Jabal Waqf es Suwwan. The discovery was made by Professor Dr. Elias Salameh, Professor Dr. Werner Schneider, and Professor Dr. Hani Khoury.
The diameter of the outer ring of the impact site measures around 5.5 km , whereas that the inner ring is 2.7 km, and the diameter of the crater is more than 100 m indicating an impactor diameter of about 100 m.
The impact velocity is estimated at 40 to 50 km per second accomplished within about 1/10 of a second.
The damage force of such an impact might equal 5000 times that of the Hiroshima atomic bomb.
The impact site seems to be the only discovered site worldwide hitting chert layers, which makes it a unique site.
The research group estimates that the impact took place 7500 to 10000 years before present.
Dr. Salameh stated that such an impact in size and velocity would raise the atmospheric temperature in the surroundings (tens of kilometres) of the impact site to more than one thousand degrees centigrade and would eject millions of tons of rocks, dust, vapour, and smoke into the atmosphere.
This in turn would form an atmospheric cloud, which may surround the whole earth causing darkness on earth and continuous rain for month or even years, which results in the flooding of low lands of the earth. The impact must have resulted in the total destroying of every thing in an area extending to covers Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and the north part of Saudi Arabia. It also causes burning of anything present in a distance of hundreds of kilometres.
This impact is expect to explain many geologic and historic features and events such as calcinated (backed) rocks, molten rock, highly jointed and cracked rocks, shatter cores and split-offs.
In the surrounding of the impact site many new unrecorded features were also registered.
The University of Jordan and the Higher Council of Science and Technology will support the future national research activities of this discovery such as mineral composition, geologic structures, remote sensing, surface evidence, geophysical investigations, and historic dimensions.
Senior scientists will contribute to the new research to cover the different aspects of the impact studies.
Higher studies students will also be enrolled in the research.
The relevant official institutions in the country have been informed about the discovery such as the University of Jordan, the Higher Council of Science and Technology, the Badia Project, the Department of Lands and Survey and the Natural Resources Authority NRA to take the necessary steps to conserve the site as a national sanctuary.
No impacts of the same size and of relatively the young age, within the human history, are until known in the Middle East area.
The impact site is characterised by sparse rainfall and hence the very limited disintegration and erosion of rocks. Therefore, the changes in the natural setup of the area, which were produced by the impact are still seen very clearly as if the impact happened "yesterday".
It is too early to state what type of an impactor hit the area, is it an iron, a stone or an ice meteorite? Perhaps, the planned drilling in the area will clarify that.
Source Jordon News Agency
Latitude: 31.046299° Longitude: 36.806226°
A group of local and international scientists have discovered a huge crater in the eastern part of the country caused by a gigantic meteorite, thought to be the largest such find in the region.
The impact site in Jabal Waqf es Swwan, some 200 kilometres east of the Karak Governorate close to the Saudi border, was discovered by University of Jordan geology professors Elias Salameh and Hani Khoury, along with German professor Werner Schneider.
According to Salameh, the meteorite struck the area around 7,500-10,000 years ago with an impact diameter of about 100 metres.
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