The Wetumpka Impact Crater Commission is preparing for its annual tour of the crater on Feb. 23, giving guests a closer look at what happened when a meteor slammed into the earth 85 million years ago just east of downtown.
“We have been doing these tours since the late 1990s,” commission publicity chairman Marilee Tankersley said. “Our tours used to be two hours, which was too long for some people but too short for other people.”
There will be four sessions held in this year’s tour of the crater, beginning at 9 a.m. Tours will also be held at 10:15 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. The tour will begin at the Wetumpka Administration Building, with guests listening to a short lecture and watching a brief video about the crater. After this, guests can ride one of five vans and be driven around the crater. Tankersley said there are five places the tour visits, with signs put up at each location.
“We have experienced drivers and we have geology students from Auburn who participate as guides,” Tankersley said.
As each van accommodates 10 people, participation in the tour is limited to 200 guests. Registration costs are $20 for adults and $10 for children under 12, although the tour is not recommended for very small children.
Tankersley said NASA scientists have visited the crater, and a number of scientists and geologists have gone on the tour in the past and been fascinated by what they see, including how the soil at the crater changes and is different from the earth around it.
For those interested in learning more about the ongoing research at the crater, Tankersley said Dr. David King, Jr. from the Auburn University Department of Geosciences will speak at the Wetumpka Administration Building at 7 p.m. Feb. 21. King’s lecture is free and open to the public.
Tankersley said much of the current research at the crater is centered around when some of the soil brought to the crater from more than 30 miles away by impact tsunamis slid from the rim down into the middle of the crater. Current speculation suggests it could have happened within days of the impact or it could have been several million years later.
To make reservations for the Feb. 23 crater tour, contact Valencia Smith at the city administration building at 334-567-5147 or send an email to vsmith@cityofwetumpka.com.
