Saturday, July 24, 2010

Earth's most pristine crater discovered


Using Google Earth, Italian researchers discovered what may be Earth's best preserved crater. The crater Kamil, is located in a remote area of the Sahara desert.

From the Gizmodo article:
  • The crater measures 147 ft at its widest point and 52 ft deep at its deepest. Using those numbers, scientists estimate that the meteor that hit Earth was only 4.2 ft in diameter (but was traveling at 8,000MPH!).
The crater is so well preserved that it still retains the bedrock splatter patter that one often only sees on airless bodies. Most craters on Earth erode fairly quickly due to the weather.

Another cool thing about the crater is that it is mostly likely only a few thousand years old!

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