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Meteorite Crater in Puno, Peru to be a Tourist Attraction

(LIP-ir) -- Hernán Fuentes, the regional president of Puno, Peru announced that Thursday or Friday a project to conserve the crater left by the meteorite that landed in Carancas on September 15 would begin.

Fuentes told Andina News Agency that the regional government had designed a project with several stages in which the crater would be preserved and turned into a tourist attraction. The first stage is to take approximately 30 days and will focus on preserving the crater itself.

It was reported that the first stage would include the deviation of a nearby river channel and roofing the area directly above the crater as well as the construction of a concrete wall. All of this has been planned to be completed before the rainy season begins.

Rain has already begun to fall throughout different parts of the region but Fuentes assured that an increase in rainfall would be seen during December and January.

The first stage of the conservation project, which was reported to require a 23 thousand sole investment, is to be supervised by Peru's Geophysics Institute (IGP), the Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Institute (INGEMMET) and scientists that have come to Peru from abroad.

Despite the fact that the second stage of the project has not been completely established, Puno's regional president stated that it would include the construction of roads that would make reaching the crater easier.

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# Splaktar says :
6 November, 2007 [ 10:40 ]

Sounds like a big waste of money trying to preserve a bunch of mud which will just be ruined by either raid, flood, or river waters.  Who knows what side effects diverting the river will have.

# Elizabeth says :
6 November, 2007 [ 12:28 ]

Doing nothing would be a waste of time.  Keeping it and learning about it is called education.  Hopefully by studying  it, it will help us  avoid contamination as we learn from it.  My thoughts

# Juanchito says :
6 November, 2007 [ 19:06 ]

Why they no take big meteorite from the crater? Peru cientists is big idiots. I think they steal all the stone for selling to gingos.

# A.K. says :
7 November, 2007 [ 03:18 ]

Scientific? Its now just a hole in the ground. Asside from the meteorites themselves, what is there to learn that we dont already know? Im on the waste of time/money side...

# Splaktar says :
7 November, 2007 [ 08:00 ]

I don't think there is a 'big stone' sitting in the ground.  From the pictures of the crater, fragments, and the hole, it looks like the meteorite wasn't too hard and was mostly broken up when it impacted.  So it's not like there is some kind of solid steel ball at the core of this thing.  It was just a bunch of mixed up space dust and crap all clumped together, and then after impact most of it either burnt up or broke apart into smaller pieces.  The object doesn't appear to be made up of a single hard substance like rock/steel/iron/etc.  So there's no 'big meteorite' to take out...

# Elizaberth says :
7 November, 2007 [ 10:51 ]

Why do we have to use insults to make our point?  And why do you think they are idiots?  Because they want to do more research to find out if there is any type of contamination due to it. Just don't expect them  to cover it up and find out years later  like some other countries that indeed it was hurting their enviroment.  The true idiots are the ones that would pay to get a piece of the stone without knowing more about it. I am glad Peru is taking care of their enviroment before is too late and takes the time and money to do so.  Just my thoughts.

# Splaktar says :
7 November, 2007 [ 11:00 ]

The story is about making a crater into a tourist attraction, not taking care of the environment.

# Elizabeth says :
7 November, 2007 [ 11:24 ]

Here is what they say:

The first stage of the conservation project, which was reported to require a 23 thousand sole investment, is to be supervised by Peru's Geophysics Institute (IGP), the Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Institute (INGEMMET) and scientists that have come to Peru from abroad.

These people do RESEARCH which it will help us understand bettter where, how and why this creator landed to begin with. Keeping as a monument for everyone in the world to see is an added value.

# Phil Whitmer says :
7 November, 2007 [ 12:49 ]

This is by far the largest stone (chondrite) meteorite witnessed fall in the world.  Not only that it's the largest known stone meteorite crater ever.  To not preserve it would be really dumb.  You can learn a lot from studying craters. The  angle of impact, velocity, shape of the main mass, distribution of strewn field, the effects of the impact on the surrounding rock and sand, etc.  all can be studied by observing the crater. There will  not be another opportunity to study a fresh chrondritic imact crater for at least another thousand years.

# Alexis says :
9 November, 2007 [ 11:31 ]

The project is about a little economic help for the area. The scientific research angle is just the pony for the cart. If you look at the satellite photos of the area you can see that it is just a river channel and not a river. I say lets help and go visit and spend lots of tourist money. And contribute to microloan projects for the area.
Just another american talking with her mouth full.

# ELizabeth says :
9 November, 2007 [ 22:32 ]

Alexis
Thank you for your comments.  I agree with you.  Just got back form Peru and was able to visit Cuzso, Machu Pichu and Huaraz.  I miss the people, the food and the beautiful culture.  I live here ih the USA in Huntington Beach, so I miss my siesta (nap) in the middle of the afternoon.  Instead, I have a Blackberry that does not stop ringing and e-mailing.  :0(

# Jeff says :
24 November, 2007 [ 03:06 ]

Phil,

Not correct.  A much larger stony meteorite fell in China and several others have fallen in recent history that were as large.  The crater has little scientific value.  Note that it is really being preserved for perceived tourist value, not scientific value.

# Phil Whitmer says :
25 November, 2007 [ 02:07 ]

Jeff,

While the main mass of the 1976 Jilin meteorite shower to which you refer is a whopper (1770 Kg) and is the largest stone meteorite in the world, it left a piddly 2 meter wide, 6 meter deep crater. At 13.8 meters, Carancas Crater dwarfs any other chondritic meteorite crater. The total mass of the Carancas Event was probably much larger than the Chinese fall.  Most of the Puno meteorite vaporized or fell as spherules, like the iron at Meteor Crater in Arizona.  The time span between the largest crater in the world (Meteor Crater at 50,000 years old) and the second largest (Wolfe Creek, Australia at 300,00 years old) is immense.  There might not be  another chance to study one of these for maybe a quarter million years.   

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