14 Times Meteorites Fell In Wyoming (And One Giant Crater)
Wyoming has beautiful and fascinating geological features. From the towering mountain ranges, to the plains, to that one time a mountain moved 70 miles in less than an hour. But some of the features of the Wyoming landscape might be considered "otherworldly."
And no, I'm not talking about Devil's Tower in some weird Close Encounters of the Third Kind weirdness.
The Cowboy State has been the site of meteorite strikes, some that geologists think might have actually been catastrophic, and others that were so small they were barely noticed. No word if any of them contained Kansas farm boys from Krypton. Here are the 14 times meteorites struck the ground in Wyoming, and one giant crater that might have been the end of the dinosaurs (at least in the region.)
Silver Crown, discovered in 1887, 25.52 pounds.
Willow Creek, discovered in 1914, 112.2 pounds.
Albin (Palasite), discovered in 1915, 82.7 pounds.
Bear Lodge, discovered in 1931, 106.7 pounds.
Clareton, discovered in 1931, 2.3 pounds.
Pine Bluffs, discovered in 1935, 5.9 pounds.
Hawk Springs, discovered in 1935, 12.85 ounces.
Hat Creek, discovered in 1939, 19.6 pounds.
Lusk, discovered in 1940, 1.6 ounces.
Torrington, discovered in 1944, 9.07 ounces.
Waltman, discovered in 1948, 51.5 pounds.
Albin (Stone), discovered in 1949, 33 pounds
Rock Springs, discovered in 2003, 1.8 ounces.
Hyattville, discovered in 2008, 19.6 pounds.
And finally, a crater without an actual meteorite inside of it. Cloud Creek Crater in Natrona County, WY. It's thought that a huge meteorite struck Wyoming in this location nearly 200 million years ago. This crater was discovered due to drilling of oil and gas in the region, and the geological surveys that take place during that process.
The crater itself is approximately 7 kilometers in diameter (about 4.5 miles.) Unfortunately, you can't see the crater itself, as it's almost completely underground. But it is huge and might have snuffed out a dinosaur or two in its impact, especially because it impacted Wyoming back in the Jurassic period.