West Texas Fieldtrip:
Day 3 -- Sierra Madera Crater

IMG00500.jpg(716594 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 09:12:11, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=32.0mm, exptime=0.008 s (1/125), f/8.0 Large -- Medium

Sierra Madera Crater, in West Texas, is a 13-km crater that has been somewhat eroded. The rim is visible as a ring of hills. This image shows the central peak taken from the main road.
IMG00501.jpg(1846869 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 09:42:52, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=70.0mm, exptime=0.003 s (1/350), f/6.7 Large -- Medium

Driving around the La Escalera Ranch, I was surprised to see that Caltech was in the toxic waste drum business.
IMG00502.jpg(1553299 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 09:51:34, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=34.0mm, exptime=0.006 s (1/180), f/13.0 Large -- Medium

Jade Bond, Abby Sheffer, and Jani Radebaugh looking on the ground for shattercones, definitive evidence of an impact.
IMG00503.jpg(1500596 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 09:51:40, [1512 x 2268], fl=N, f=70.0mm, exptime=0.008 s (1/125), f/13.0 Large -- Medium

Gordon Osinski found some shattercones early on.
IMG00507.jpg(1465227 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 10:12:17, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=24.0mm, exptime=0.004 s (1/250), f/13.0 Large -- Medium

Gwen Bart's talk.
IMG00508.jpg(1359525 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 10:17:44, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=39.0mm, exptime=0.003 s (1/350), f/13.0 Large -- Medium

Dave Kring's geologic map of the crater.
IMG00509.jpg(1350509 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 10:17:58, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=26.0mm, exptime=0.003 s (1/350), f/13.0 Large -- Medium

a similar map of just the central uplift zone.
IMG00510.jpg(1143389 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 10:25:54, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=28.0mm, exptime=0.004 s (1/250), f/8.0 Large -- Medium

Hiking off to look at shatter cones.
IMG00511.jpg(1153269 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 10:27:44, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=70.0mm, exptime=0.002 s (1/500), f/8.0 Large -- Medium

Sweet shattercone in limestone.
IMG00512.jpg(1015583 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 10:28:25, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=70.0mm, exptime=0.003 s (1/350), f/6.7 Large -- Medium

The other rock we saw a lot of at Sierra Madera was breccia, totally thrown together clumps of other rocks. Nearly all of the rocks that the Apollo astronauts brought back from the Moon were breccias.
IMG00513.jpg(1139324 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 10:28:57, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=32.0mm, exptime=0.004 s (1/250), f/8.0 Large -- Medium
IMG00515.jpg(1243183 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 10:44:54, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=24.0mm, exptime=0.017 s (1/60), f/19.0 Large -- Medium

Listening to talks.
IMG00517.jpg(1245862 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 10:45:34, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=70.0mm, exptime=0.017 s (1/60), f/13.0 Large -- Medium

Gwen Bart and Jani Radebaugh hunt shattercones.
IMG00518.jpg(1716191 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 10:59:01, [1512 x 2268], fl=N, f=24.0mm, exptime=0.022 s (1/45), f/13.0 Large -- Medium

Gwen, far.
IMG00519.jpg(1027328 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 10:59:17, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=70.0mm, exptime=0.004 s (1/250), f/5.6 Large -- Medium

Gwen, medium.
IMG00520.jpg(1058365 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 10:59:35, [1512 x 2268], fl=N, f=70.0mm, exptime=0.003 s (1/350), f/6.7 Large -- Medium

Gwen, close.
IMG00521.jpg(982924 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 11:01:51, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=64.0mm, exptime=0.003 s (1/350), f/8.0 Large -- Medium
IMG00522.jpg(1001171 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 11:03:07, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=70.0mm, exptime=0.017 s (1/60), f/16.0 Large -- Medium
IMG00523.jpg(1096446 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 11:07:06, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=70.0mm, exptime=0.008 s (1/125), f/11.0 Large -- Medium
IMG00524.jpg(1781931 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 11:23:08, [1512 x 2268], fl=N, f=70.0mm, exptime=0.004 s (1/250), f/11.0 Large -- Medium

We visited at a nice time of year, lots of stuff was blooming.
IMG00527.jpg(1476084 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 13:04:09, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=24.0mm, exptime=0.003 s (1/350), f/11.0 Large -- Medium

Listening to talks after lunch.
IMG00528.jpg(1308426 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 13:07:10, [1512 x 2268], fl=N, f=24.0mm, exptime=0.003 s (1/350), f/11.0 Large -- Medium
IMG00529.jpg(2081211 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 14:09:19, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=32.0mm, exptime=0.003 s (1/350), f/11.0 Large -- Medium

Crazy breccia, with huge clasts.
IMG00531.jpg(1465225 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 14:16:48, [1512 x 2268], fl=N, f=28.0mm, exptime=0.002 s (1/500), f/11.0 Large -- Medium

Gwen Bart and the breccia.
IMG00533.jpg(1637420 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 14:18:15, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=70.0mm, exptime=0.001 s (1/1000), f/11.0 Large -- Medium

Closeup.
IMG00534.jpg(1822629 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 14:29:22, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=70.0mm, exptime=0.002 s (1/500), f/8.0 Large -- Medium
IMG00535.jpg(1788916 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 14:29:25, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=24.0mm, exptime=0.002 s (1/500), f/11.0 Large -- Medium
IMG00536.jpg(1480408 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 14:32:10, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=70.0mm, exptime=0.001 s (1/750), f/9.5 Large -- Medium
IMG00539.jpg(1573826 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 15:00:22, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=24.0mm, exptime=0.003 s (1/350), f/9.5 Large -- Medium
IMG00540.jpg(1778166 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 15:00:28, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=70.0mm, exptime=0.001 s (1/750), f/9.5 Large -- Medium
IMG00543.jpg(1095487 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 15:02:21, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=26.0mm, exptime=0.022 s (1/45), f/32.0 Large -- Medium
IMG00545.jpg(1250692 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 15:31:46, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=34.0mm, exptime=0.002 s (1/500), f/11.0 Large -- Medium

Abby Sheffer's amazing nearly-full shattercone.
IMG00549.jpg(1180570 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 19:14:51, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=24.0mm, exptime=0.011 s (1/90), f/9.5 Large -- Medium
IMG00555.jpg(959135 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 19:18:49, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=56.0mm, exptime=0.050 s (1/20), f/2.8 Large -- Medium

A beetle in the sand.
IMG00556.jpg(713927 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 19:31:13, [1512 x 2268], fl=N, f=24.0mm, exptime=0.033 s (1/30), f/2.8 Large -- Medium

Sunset horizon, with Venus at top.
IMG00557.jpg(756585 bytes) -- SIGMA-SIGMA SD9, 2004:04:02 20:01:49, [2268 x 1512], fl=N, f=70.0mm, exptime=1.000 s , f/2.8 Large -- Medium

Mercury, just over the clouds.