Barringer Crater

Barringer Meteor Crater aerial view. Image Credit: Unknown

Best known and best preserved impact crater on Earth. The crater is named after Daniel Barringer and still owned by his family and also known as Meteor Crater, Coon Butte, and Canyon Diablo (www.barringercrater.com). Measuring 1.2 km across and 175 m deep, with a rim 45 m higher on average than the surrounding plain, it lies 55 km east of Flagstaff, Arizona, at 35° 02′ N, 111° 01′ W. It was formed ~50,000 years ago by the impact of an iron meteorite ~50 m across and weighing several hundred thousand metric tons. Most of the meteorite vaporized or melted upon impact, leaving only numerous, mostly small fragments of an iron meteorite now called Canyon Diablo, scattered up to 7 km from the impact site. Only ~30 t, including a 693-kg sample, are known to have been recovered.

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