How Meteorite Craters Formed America’s Mountains

Earth in reflection.
About our ancient history.
Stories of seismic impact.
That’s valuable to learn.

Of moonlike craters.
Never on earth before seen.
Claiming evidence.
Of massive ancient impact.
That shaped North America.

Earth Science studies.
Of meteorite craters.
In Wyoming State.
Two hundred million years.
Before man roamed the planet.

Evidence is here.
Of “secondary craters.”
In earth’s atmosphere.
This — now claim geologists.
In southwest Wyoming found.

These impact craters.
Of secondary nature.
Were identified.
First, by their more shallow depths.
Then, their non-circular shapes.

Their ray-like patterns.
Radiate outwards.
From a primary crater.
A phenomenon observed.
Like our moon’s Tycho crater.

This is worthy news.
“Dug up” by geologists.
Of the early life.
North America of past.
Supercontinent adjoined.

Known as Pangea.
As an archaic wonder.
Supercontinent.
Would eventually break.
Sixty million years ago.

Burying craters.
In mud for million years.
And forming mountains.
We see in America.
Arising in western states.

These ancient mountains.
Eighty million years old.
Some with fewer years.
All now majestic mountains.
Arose from buried craters.

These discoveries.
Supported by drone data.
Are encouraging.
With findings from satellites.
About our planet’s history.

The field of science.
Enriches human knowledge.
Of how life began.
Of earth’s early formation.
And how it still continues.