DescripciónAEC-63-6934 The Sedan crater was formed by the detonation of a 100-kiloton thermonuclear device on July 6, 1962, at the Atomic Energy Commission's Nevada Test Site. The explosion, part of the AEC's Plowshare Program, was conducted to obtain information on the use of nuclear detonations for massive industrial earth moving projects. It formed a crater about 1,280 feet in diameter and 320 feet in depth, with a lip ranging from 20 to 105 feet high. The first descent into the crater was made in February by a party which included photographers Lloyd Guymon and Rufus Baughn, geologist William Richards, health physicist Ken Oswald and radiation monitor Harold Neiman. Radiation levels in the crater were so low that it was not necessary to wear protective clothing. The trip down to the floor of the crater took approximately 15 minutes with the climb back to the rim requiring from 50 minutes to one hour. The story of the trip is pictured in a sequence of photographs. Geologist Bill Richards found coveralls too warm for comfort at the crater floor. This photograph clearly shows the carved layer area of desert alluvium across the upper part of the photograph and the smooth area below which resulted from the settling of material thrown upward by the force of the explosion. Credit Livermore Radiation Laboratory, Nevada
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