Chapter 1166 Discussion About The Crater (1/2)

Wilkes Land had a huge crater just below it. Of course, Li Du didn't know that. He did

not learn much about Antarctica and did not research the geography of the area.

Elson went to prepare dinner, and Steve sat them down and began to talk about the

purpose of his visit to Antarctica.

As he said earlier, he was looking for a meteorite. Inside his quarters hung many photos

of meteorites, and he took some and placed them on the table for Li Du to look at.

The Wilkes crater was discovered half a century ago and was located just beneath the

ice of Wilkes Field. It was a crater created from large impact.

The crater was so large that modern technology measured it to be 243 kilometers in

diameter and up to 848 meters deep.

In addition to the crater, there could be a mass tumor at Wilkes Field.

A mass tumor, as its name implies, was a tumor of extraordinary mass, which existed in

the interior of the earth. It consisted of minerals with a higher density than the

surrounding geological formations.

Mass tumors have been found on the moon and on Mars, and are the result of asteroid

impacts, according to NASA.

A mass tumor previously discovered on earth was found in Hawaii, but scientists

believed it was caused by a volcanic eruption, not an asteroid impact.

Only later did NASA's gravity and climate monitoring satellite find Wilkes' mass tumor,

which was larger than the crater and spanned about 300 kilometers!

There were no large volcanoes in that part of Antarctica, which ruled out the possibility

that the tumor was formed by volcanic eruptions. Therefore, there was only one

possible cause of mass tumor formation.

It was the result of an asteroid collision!

”Based on aeroacoustics, there are gravity anomalies in the lower end and mass

nodules of this crater, as well as a large number of glass meteorites, which are now

widely dispersed across the Australian continent. These meteorites originated from this

one,” Steve explained to him.

”What does that mean?” asked Li Du.

Steve said, ”It means a lot. First of all, it means there are a lot of meteorites here, and

we're looking for them.”

Li Du laughed. ”Oh, are you planning to become a meteorite hunter?”

Like the art hunters he met in Miami, meteorite hunters were much the same:

professionals who looked for meteorites.

As was well known, meteorites have long been a rarity, rarer than gold and diamonds,

and there were only 300 pieces so far in the whole world.

Rare things were expensive, and meteorites and general collections did not have

scientific research value, so meteorite collecting has become important work in various

countries. Understanding the age of the earth and its evolution through meteorites had a

very high scientific value.

Most of this collection work was not carried out by private people but directly funded by

the government.

There was intense competition between governments, so the price of meteorites has

stayed high.

Li Du took notice of the meteorite market when he learned about the world luxury

market.

Meteorites were not auctioned to regular customers and were considered a very special

rarity.

In 1993, a lunar meteorite weighing just 0.33 grams was sold in Sotheby's for $442,500.

In May 1998, in Phillips auction house in New York, a Martian meteorite was sold for