"Southern Rings" view of Black Rock Desert suspected impact site

by Ian Kluft
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August 17, 2007

This page shows a Google Earth image of the concentric rings in the southern portion of the suspected impact site at the Black Rock Desert. The scale of this suspected impact site is so large and erosion has removed so much of it that tools like this are needed to help visualize it.

First, let's look at an unmodified Google Earth image. This simulates the view from 90,000' over the Black Rock Desert looking down and roughly east toward Sulphur. The black line is the Union Pacific railroad tracks eastbound toward Winnemucca. The view is about 25 miles wide across the middle.

Second, we'll look at the same view with some annotations.

Additionally, let's review an image already shown on the original Black Rock Desert suspected impact crater page. The public disclosure by Vista Gold Corp of their strip mine at Sulphur NV shows a cross-section of fault lines. The cross section is in this area with the rings, showing the fault lines slope inward with a curve that would be expected in an impact site.

The orange lines on the annotated satellite image above approximately correspond to the locations of the A and B cross sections below.