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Barringer Crater
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The best known and best preserved impact crater on Earth. Barringer Crater, named after Daniel Barringer and still owned by his family, is also known as Meteor Crater, Coon Butte, and Canyon Diablo.
Measuring 1.2 km across and 175 m deep, with a rim 45 m higher on average than the surrounding plain, the crater lies 55 km east of Flagstaff, Arizona, at coordinates 35° 02' N, 111° 01' W. The Barringer Crater was formed about 50,000 years ago by the impact of an iron meteorite, some 50 m across and weighing several hundred thousand tons. Most of the meteorite was vaporized or melted, leaving only numerous, mostly small fragments of the octahedrite type, scattered up to 7 km from the impact site. Only about 30 tons, including a 693-kg sample, are known to have been recovered.
Related entry
• Earth impact craters
Related categories
• CRATERS
• GEOLOGY AND PLANETARY SCIENCE
• METEORS AND METEORITES
Archived news
Meteor Crater formation revisited (Mar 10, 2005)
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