Lake Bosumtwi

Bosumtwi, also called Bosomtwe, is a lake in the Ashanti Region in Ghana, West Africa, located in a meteorite crater. The lake has a diameter of eight kilometers and a depth of about 80 meters. He is no outlet. The crater, however, measures 10.5 km in diameter. His age was determined at 1.07 million years ago. It is thus a ( measured at the Earth's history ) very young impact craters.

The Bosumtwi crater is located in crystalline rocks of the West African shield ( Birimian system, about two billion years old ). The laminated sediments of the lake represent a climate archive and were recognized in 2004 by several, up to 540 meters deep research boreholes.

A special feature of the Bosumtwi crater is the occurrence of tektites ( Impaktgläsern ) caused by the impact of meteorites, and up to 1000 km to the west ( in today's Ivory Coast) were hurled. Tektites have been observed worldwide in only four of the more than 170 meteorite crater. From the occurrence and distribution of tektites can be concluded with the help of simulation studies that a large meteorite about 500 meters at an angle of 30 to 50 degrees at a speed of more than 20 kilometers per second from the east.

The lake has the endemic cichlid Hemichromis frempongi, its tributaries in a special color morph of Günther's magnificent perch.

Spelling

While the notation " Bosumtwi " (which is pretty close to the correct pronunciation; open o, sharp s, u open, very open i ( almost s), stress on the second syllable) has naturalized, is, inter alia, according to Ghanaian scientists from the University of Kumasi " Bosomtwe " the correct spelling. The difference in spelling (but not in pronunciation ) is explained by the origin of the name of the pitch language Twi.