May 03, 2006
Satellite radar images of the Sahara desert north of
Chad have revealed the presence of
easily noticed in normal aerial photographs. But the cause of these
formations may lie outside the lexicon of standard geology today.
The Aorounga crater in the three-dimensional image above is almost 19
miles (31 kilometers) in diameter. And it does not stand alone in the
Saharan desert. Its coordinates are, N 19° 6' E 19° 15', while the
Kebira structure we discussed
earlier can be found at N 24° 30' E 25° 0'. Both craters lie within an
area of chaotic terrain that closely resembles the surface of Mars. (See
Google Map) Another formation, the Oasis crater, can be seen
slightly west of Kebira in the satellite image.
Some of the more interesting aspects of Aorounga are the "implausible"
parallel grooves and ridges that run through the surrounding landscape,
as well as through the crater itself. Wallace Thornhill
and other advocates of the "Electric Universe" see these as one of the
more common signatures of electrical arcing on rocky bodies in the solar
system. The deep gouges and scalloped cliffs are reminiscent of
Martian features that
electrical theorists identify as scars left by electric arcs. The crater
pattern is also eerily similar to the unexplained “pedestal craters” on
Mars imaged by NASA orbiters—even the floors of many such craters stand
higher the surrounding terrain. (Example from the Mars Global Surveyor
The press release from Boston University listed the Kebira formation as
“millions of years old”, corresponding to the dates fixed for other
areas of the Gilf Kebir Plateau. But, is that the case? Could intense
electromagnetic bombardment influence the apparent age accepted by the
The most common dating method is by measuring the isotopic ratios of
particular elements. For example, uranium 235 decays into lead 207 with
a half-life of 700 million years. That means, when the rock was first
formed, it contained a fixed quantity of uranium 235 and every 700
million years thereafter it will exhibit half the amount of uranium 235
and an increasing amount of lead 207.
Because a mineral sample’s age depends on that sample existing today
exactly as when it was initially formed, if it has been affected by
radioactivity, or heat, or a blast or electricity, any measurement of
its age will be inaccurate. Therefore, if a multi-billion joule
electric discharge, sufficient to excavate a crater 19 miles in diameter
were to strike the earth, the gamma and x-ray pulses would drastically
alter the decay rate, the isotopic ratios and, perhaps, form new
elements within the rocks.
For these and other reasons presented in these Pictures of the Day, it
is not unreasonable to ask if Kebira and its surrounding craters may be
the remains of electrical events, perhaps occurring in a more recent
past than geologists have previously imagined.
Contributed by Stephen Smith