Monturaqui crater

- 23.927777777778 - 68.261666666667Koordinaten: 23 ° 55 ' 40 "S, 68 ° 15 ' 42" W

The Monturaqui meteorite crater in northern Chile is a simple, bowl-shaped impact crater about 360 m in diameter and 34 m depth caused 500000-780000 years ago by an iron meteorite.

Location

The Monturaqui meteorite crater is located in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, in the commune of San Pedro de Atacama. El is located at 23 ° 55 ' 39.3 "S, 68 ° 15' 41.6 " W 23.927577777778 - 68.2615638888893015 in 3015 m altitude, 20 km south of the Salar de Atacama, in an extremely dry, vegetation-free zone. It is located around 70 km from the eponymous ghost town Monturaqui and 35 km from the oasis village of Peine. The historic Inca Trail leads from the north of Peine Tilomonte coming past the crater. 900 meters from the crater rim lies the ruins of Tambo " Tambillo El Cráter ". In the region there are some localities for iron meteorites, which were used in past centuries by the native population as a source of iron. From the scientists Monturaqui meteorite crater was only discovered in 1962 in the evaluation of aerial photographs of the region.

Further, today known impact craters nearby are the Tujle ( 23 ° 50 ' S, 67 ° 57' W 23.833333333333 - 67.953500 ), the Tilocalar ( 23 ° 59 ' S, 68 ° 8' W 23.983333333333 - 68.1333333333333045 ) and the Imilac meteorite crater.

Description

It is a simple, subzirkularen crater. The diameter is 370 m in east-west direction and 350 m north-south direction. With an average depth of 34 m, the wall height between 16 m and 48 m above the crater floor varies. In aerial photography the deepest zone appears as a prominent bright spot away from the center. This area of ​​approximately 40 m² consists of a 1-2 m thick layer of clay and silt.

The impactor was an iron meteorite Class IIA - Hexaedrit. By model calculations it was estimated that he had a diameter of 15 m. He hit at an angle of 41 ° at a speed of 17.8 km / h. This energy was released the the explosive power of 1.14 megatons of TNT equivalent corresponds. It formed most likely a initial 54 m deep crater. The ejected material was estimated at 6.7 million m³. The Make up cloud of dust probably had a diameter of 24 km.

A number of age determinations showed that the impact approximately 500000-780000 years ago has taken place.

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