2001-09-21 - AZF explosion crater

That's amazing. It is in BEV too but doesn't look as scary there. Good find!

"The full environmental consequences of the catastrophe are not yet completely known."

Well, a bunch of fertilizer got vaporized. Next question please.

Even the cause of the catastrophe isn't completely known...

I would guess that a huge Ammonium Nitrate explosion caused it. But I'm no expert. {8^0

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

Just 10 days after the 9/11...
Other hypotheses explaining the explosion have been discussed by the public:
- an unexplained initial subterranean explosion roughly 8 seconds before the main AZF explosion, in the SNPE (Société Nationale de Propulsants et Explosifs) located mere hundreds of meters away from the AZF factory, which would have caused electrical deficiencies (as shown on the records by the national electric company EDF) and an electrical arc that could have provided the energy for igniting the ammonium nitrate stored in the hangar 221 of AZF (both sites are connected to the same high tension electrical lines),
- a meteorite fall directly on the chemical storagehouse,
- a rocket or explosive device detonating near the hangar 221,
- a misfire of an experiment in wireless transmission of energy using microwave beams, secretly conducted by the French Army, that caused both SNPE and AZF explosions, and the electrical anomalies mentioned above.

I recall reading somewhere that it was caused by an incompatible chemical being mistaken for ammonium nitrate and dumped onto one of the piles of AN. The two slowly reacted in the presence of water until the autoignnition temperature was reached and, well, the rest is a hole in the ground.