What you're actually seeing are the craters left behind from underground nuclear tests from many years ago. They look nothing like anything seen on the surface of the Moon.



Cz

Oh not to sure if these are nuclear or conventional, I'm thinking conventional.

The carters are in the Yucca Flats, which Area 51 shares with the Nevada Test Site (NTS). Most if not all the craters there were created by above ground, low yield tests from the 40's to the 60's and low-yield underground tests which may still be ongoing to this day, although, "officially", there have been no nuclear detonations there since the early 90's.

http://www.dreamlandresort.com/info/nts.htm

http://www.dreamlandresort.com/area51/nuke_effects.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada_Test_Site


Cz

The carters are in the Yucca Flats, which Area 51 shares with the Nevada Test Site (NTS). Most if not all the craters there were created by above ground, low yield tests from the 40's to the 60's and low-yield underground tests which may still be ongoing to this day, although, "officially", there have been no nuclear detonations there since the early 90's.

http://www.dreamlandresort.com/info/nts.htm

http://www.dreamlandresort.com/area51/nuke_effects.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada_Test_Site


Cz

The carters are in the Yucca Flats, which Area 51 shares with the Nevada Test Site (NTS). Most if not all the craters there were created by above ground, low yield tests from the 40's to the 60's and low-yield underground tests which may still be ongoing to this day, although, "officially", there have been no nuclear detonations there since the early 90's.

http://www.dreamlandresort.com/info/nts.htm

http://www.dreamlandresort.com/area51/nuke_effects.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada_Test_Site


Cz

Ok well i will say yikes. Thats damn scary, no wonder people are scared of the area.

I think since the 50s most of the tests were exploded underground (leaving much less fall out), which results in the craters we see (the blast evaporates* the rock under the surface creating a gap). Atmospheric nuclear explosions don't cause craters.

The last completely above ground test at NTS took place on 17 July 1962. There were, however, several cratering tests conducted in support of Project Plowshare. This endeavor called for the use of nuclear explosives for excavation of canals, harbors, and mountain passes. To prove the feasibility of such peaceful uses of nuclear explosives, devices were buried at a depth that would allow the maximum amount of soil to be displaced.

Operation Plowshare, better known as Project Plowshare, not to be confused with the anti-nuclear Plowshares Movement, was the overall United States term for the development of techniques to use nuclear explosives for peaceful construction purposes. The phrase was coined in 1961, taken from Micah 4:3 ("And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more"). It was the U.S. portion of what are called Peaceful Nuclear Explosions (PNE). The Soviet Union had a similar program of testing as well for many years. The Soviet program was titled Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy.

Suggested usage

Proposed uses included widening the Panama Canal, constructing a new sea-level waterway through Nicaragua nicknamed the Pan-Atomic Canal, cutting paths through mountainous areas for highways, and for connecting inland river systems. Other proposals involved blasting underground caverns for water, natural gas, and petroleum storage. Serious consideration was also given to using these explosives for various mining operations. One proposal suggested using nuclear blasts to connect underground aquifers in Arizona. Another plan involved surface blasting on the western slope of California's Sacramento Valley for a water transport project. At the end of the program, a major objective was to develop nuclear explosives, and blast techniques, for stimulating the flow of natural gas in "tight" underground reservoir formations.

Nuclear explosives have never been used for commercial engineering purposes in the United States, but the concept has been tested.

Storax Sedan was a shallow underground nuclear test conducted at the Nevada Test Site at [show location on an interactive map] 37.177048° N 116.046653° W by the United States on July 6, 1962 as part of Operation Plowshare program to investigate the use of nuclear weapons for mining, cratering, and other civilian purposes.

The blast had a yield of 104 kilotons (435 terajoules) and displaced more than 11 million tonnes (12 million short tons) of soil and resulted in a radioactive cloud that rose to an altitude of 3.7 km (12,000 feet). The radioactive dust plume headed northeast and then east towards the Mississippi River. It created a crater 100 m (320 feet) deep and has a diameter of about 390 m (1,280 feet). It is about 21 km (13 miles) away from Groom Lake.

Weren't they stopped by treaty?

Weren't they stopped by treaty? Nuclear detonations can be detected almost anywhere on the planet seismically. If they were trying to test them in secret it wouldn't be a secret for very long.

That's what I thought. Although i see nothing in there about bans on underground testing, I am fairly sure the US does not even do those anymore. I still stand by my assertion that any underground test would not be able to kept a secret.

What you're actually seeing are the craters left behind from underground nuclear tests from many years ago.

Las Vegas' newest museum is dedicated to the days when the brightest lights in the Nevada desert came not from the neon of Strip casinos but from the atomic tests that took place at what was known as the Nevada Test Site, some 65 miles from the emerging city but close enough that the signature mushroom clouds from atomic bombs were plainly visible to those on its streets.

In fact, the more than 100 above-ground tests conducted here became something of a tourist draw in their own right. Las Vegas - what a blast!

Old postcard from Las Vegas. Back reads: MUSHROOM CLOUD An ascending mushroom cloud on the distant horizon signaled U.S Goverment nuclear testing. Coinciding with the blast times, hotels served "Atomic Cocktails" on their rooftops. Tests were conducted 65 miles nothwest of Las Vegas until 1962 when testing then moved underground.

... whats this so called final fantasy?

what makes you think area 51 is any different from any other military base in the world
and whats this so called final fantasy?

They were caused by low yeild Nuclear Explosions like this one.

~Thanato

Weren't they stopped by treaty? Nuclear detonations can be detected almost anywhere on the planet seismically. If they were trying to test them in secret it wouldn't be a secret for very long.