Geography and the Age of Things

1.849 billion years ago, a space-borne piece of rock slammed into Mother Earth in the area we now know as Sudbury and environs.  

The impact would have surpassed anything I could imagine with my teeny, watery brain, but the factoids perhaps speak for themselves. The force of impact drove the meteor 35 kilometres below the Earth's crust, assuming, of course, that the Earth had a crust back then.

A lot can happen in a couple of billion years, including the distortion of the circular impact crater into the more oval shape it assumes these days. Wikipedia reliably has a good picture taken from space and a good description: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudbury_Basin

Last week we visited the Onaping High Falls, the place where the waters collected by the Onaping river cascade over the rim of the ancient impact crater made by that wayward piece of space rock. It's a pretty place:

With intriguing formations in the metal-laden rock:

Lots of locally-grown graffiti:

And other signs of human habitation:

From the prospect pictured below, even my teeny, watery brain could imagine how first there flowed a river of elements made liquid by the violence of the impact and the heat of the Earth back then ... and which later became this welcoming spot for a lovely fall stroll through the woods. 

But even these lovely places -- 2 billion years after they were hot-as-the-sun planetary crucibles forming the future of Earthling mining companies -- hold perils for the unwary, or at least those wearing not quite the right footwear for the hike:

That's my friend Kate pointing to the spot on the trail where I lost my footing while descending on a steep incline and fell on my ass.

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1.849 billion years minus 55 years ago today, at 5:30 in the afternoon, I made my way onto the planet.

Happy birthday to me.

Have a great week!

Karen