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s
es describ
e
the area
as more of a sma
ll depress
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ion instead
of a dist
inct crater.
The heat
of
th
e blast
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advanced
vapor
ized the
steel tower and mel
ted the desert s
and and turned it
into a green glassy substance. It was c
alled Trinitite and small pieces can
still be seen in the area.
At one time Trinitite co
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vered much of th
e depression made by the e
Rocket Engine Testing
xplosion. Afterwards t
he depression was filled an
d much of the Trinit
ite was taken away by th
e Atomic Energy Commissi
on. To t
he west of the monument
is a low structure which is protecting
Facilities
an original
portio
n of the c
rater area .. This
Carl Rudder photo shows
an unidentified soldier a
t ground zero. H
e is inspecting
one of the footings from t
he 100-foot
tower. I
n 2004 members of the missile
range's P
ublic Affairs Office began
assisting Los Alamos Nation
al Lab scientists
Robert Hermes a
nd William Strickfaden
in a fresh
look at Trinitite and h
ow it was formed. The t
wo published the
results of their
UPSBI Information
investigation in
the Fall 2005 iss
ue of "Nuc
lear Weapons Jour
nal." The two scientists were puzzled by spheroids within
Organization
pieces of Triniti
EMRTC Director
te. The spheroids looked like little dr
oplets and suggested that instead of
being baked below the ex
plosion like a giant trinitite brulee, the des
ert sand was first scooped u
p into the fireball.
Inside the fireball, the melt
ed sand b
Brochures
ehaved just
as water does in a r
egular cloud:
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tiny dropl
ets aggregated into bigg
er drople
ts tha
t be
came
too
heavy
to remain
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suspended and
fell
as a rain of molten
glass.
"Much of the
layer was for
med not on
the gro
