File:Meteor_Crater_-_Arizona.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Meteor Crater
Sign in to saveAlso known as Barringer Crater, Franklin's Hole, Meteorite Mountain, Coon Mountain, Coon Butte, Crater Mound, Canyon Diablo Crater, Barringer Meteor Crater
meteorite impact crater in northern Arizona
Key facts
- Confidence
- Confirmed
- Diameter
- 0.737 miles (1.186 km)
- Depth
- 560 feet (170 m)
- Rise
- 148 feet (45 m)
- Impactor diameter
- 160 feet (50 m)
- Age
- 50,000 years
- Exposed
- Yes
- Drilled
- Yes
- Bolide type
- Iron meteorite
- Location
- Coconino County
- Country
- United States
- State
- Arizona
- Access
- Interstate 40
- Designated
- November 1967
via Wikipedia infobox
~17 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Meteor Crater, or Barringer Crater, is an impact crater about 37 mi (60 km) east of Flagstaff and 18 mi (29 km) west of Winslow in the desert of northern Arizona, United States. The site had several earlier names, and fragments of the meteorite are officially called the Canyon Diablo Meteorite, after the adjacent Canyon Diablo.
Meteor Crater lies at an elevation of 5,640 ft (1,719 m) above sea level. It is about 3,900 ft (1,200 m) in diameter, some 560 ft (170 m) deep, and is surrounded by a rim that rises 148 ft (45 m) above the surrounding plains. The center of the crater is filled with 690–790 ft (210–240 m) of rubble lying above crater bedrock. One of the features of the crater is its squared-off outline, believed to be caused by existing regional jointing (cracks) in the strata at the impact site.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Meteor Crater” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.