Fri Jul 18 08:10:00 UTC 2025: Here’s a summary of the text and a rewritten news article based on it:
**Summary:**
A new study suggests a link between the impact that created Arizona’s Barringer Crater and a massive landslide in the Grand Canyon that dammed the Colorado River around 56,000 years ago. Researchers dated driftwood found high above the current river level in caves near the Grand Canyon, indicating a major flood. This flood coincides with a more precise dating of the Barringer Crater impact. The impact, calculated to have generated a significant earthquake, may have triggered the landslide. While other explanations are possible, the close timing of these rare events suggests a connection.
**News Article:**
**Cosmic Connection: Meteor Impact May Have Triggered Grand Canyon Landslide**
**Grand Canyon, AZ** – Scientists have uncovered a potential link between two iconic geological features of the American Southwest: the Barringer Crater (also known as Meteor Crater) in Arizona and a massive landslide within the Grand Canyon. A new study, published in the journal *Geology*, suggests that the meteor impact that formed Barringer Crater roughly 56,000 years ago may have sent shockwaves through the earth, triggering a colossal landslide in the Grand Canyon that temporarily dammed the Colorado River.
Researchers from the University of New Mexico and the Lunar and Planetary Institute pieced together the puzzle by re-examining driftwood found in high-altitude caves near the Grand Canyon. These samples revealed evidence of a massive flood event around 56,000 years ago, much larger than any known historical flood in the region.
“It would have required a ten-times bigger flood level than any flood that has happened in the past several thousand years,” said Professor Karl Karlstrom, lead author of the study. The team determined that the flood was likely caused by a landslide near Nankoweap Canyon, which created a natural dam on the Colorado River, causing water levels to rise dramatically upstream.
Coincidentally, recent recalculations placed the Barringer Crater impact at approximately the same time. Dr. David Kring, a co-author on the study, previously calculated the impact generated a magnitude 5.4 earthquake. The team believes the resulting shockwave from the impact may have destabilized a cliff face in the Grand Canyon, causing it to collapse and trigger the landslide.
“The meteorite impact, the massive landslide, the lake deposits, and the driftwood high above river level are all rare and unusual occurrences,” Karlstrom said. “With dates that all converge around 56,000 years ago, it seems credible for the events to be related.”
While the researchers acknowledge that other factors, such as a local earthquake, could have independently triggered the landslide, the timing of the events suggests a compelling connection between cosmic events and geological changes here on Earth. This study offers a new perspective on the complex history of the American Southwest and the interconnectedness of seemingly disparate geological phenomena.
First Piper 