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A mysterious mile-wide dent in the Earth has generated a debate among scientists about whether it was caused by a meteorite impact or a gradual change.
Wakefield Dort Jr., a retired geology professor at the university of Kansas, will make his case that the depression, known as the Merna Crater, in Nebraska, U.S.A, is a meteorite crater at the annual Meteoritical Society meeting in Los Angeles tomorrow. However, Mark Kuzila, University of Nebraska scientist who has studied the site has his doubts, ``It is not a crater. There is no evidence''.
Dort began studying the crater in 1991 and according to his theory, the depression was formed by the impact of a large meteorite between 500 and 3 000 years ago. At the Meteoritical Society meeting Dort will be campaigning for funds to help settle the debate, “``This is an intellectual chasm,'' he said. ``If we had the money, we could settle this in a matter of one summer.''
More info: Space.com
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