Roter Kamm crater
Encyclopedia
Roter Kamm is a meteorite
Meteorite
A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives impact with the Earth's surface. Meteorites can be big or small. Most meteorites derive from small astronomical objects called meteoroids, but they are also sometimes produced by impacts of asteroids...

 crater
Impact crater
In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...

, located within the Namibian section of the Namib Desert
Namib Desert
The Namib Desert is a desert in Namibia and southwest Angola that forms part of the Namib-Naukluft National Park, the largest game reserve in Africa. The name "Namib" is of Nama origin and means "vast place"...

 in the Karas Region
Karas Region
The Karas Region is the southernmost region of Namibia. The name assigned to the region reflects the prominence of the Karas mountain range in its southern part...

. It is 2.5 km in diameter and is 130 meters (400 feet) deep. The age is estimated to be 3.7 ± 0.3 million years placing it in the Pliocene
Pliocene
The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...

. The crater is exposed at the surface, but its original floor is covered by sand
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...

deposits at least 100 meters (300 feet) thick. The meteor that hit it was approximately the size of an SUV.

Gallery

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK