Free Astronomy Magazine May-June 2023

MAY-JUNE 2023 I n this aerial view of Le Clot, the round shape and depression of the terrain typical of impact craters are very evident. The two people visible (below) on the dirt road leading to the crater give an idea of the proportions of the scene. These territories are part of the Upper Languedoc Regional Nature Park. [Domaine du Météore − www.domainedumeteore.com ] sented some few blocks of stone and an enormous quantity of gravel. The dimensions were found to corre- spond exactly to those given by the French surveyors. The depth from the rim is about 60 metres and the tops of some high trees standing on the bottom of the crater are consid- erably below the top of the rim. At places the inclination of the inner slope was nearly 60°. Also here the condition of the materials showed traces of a formidable explosion, and here again many bits of white limestone were lying on the ground. The rim was elevated some metres above the level of the plateau on which this crater is situated. The bot- tom of the crater is flat, and here Mr. Carattié has arranged a small vineyard and garden.” Luplau Janssen’s description of Le Clot is undoubtedly detailed, but purely qualitative, not including geophysical or mineralogical analy- ses. After all, as he himself points out, he is an astronomer, not a geol- ogist. Nevertheless, some of his ob- servations are consistent with the findings previously made by the two French geologists: he reports, for example, about a rim raised a few meters above the level of the sur- rounding terrain and about traces of an explosive event which would have caused rocks to emerge from depth, two observations in agreement with the meteoritic impact scenario. Lu- plau Janssen continues: “As we have already said, the crater is circular, presenting an elevated rim, but a closer examination of the latter re- veals a very remarkable thing. The rim has some depressions, two of them being rather distinct. If we ex- amine the surroundings, we find that the crater overlies one or possi- bly two ravines torn out of the plateau on which ‘Le Clot’ is situated. This leads us directly to the well- known case of the Hyginus ridge on the moon, where we also find a crater overlying a ravine. Just as in the case of the Cabrerolles Crater, the ravine is older than the crater, which completely interrupts it. Obvi- ously, as the French geologists also