Barringer Meteor Crater
by NASA - NASA-VRS - © Detlev Van Ravenswaay/Science Photo Library/Corbis
Barringer Crater, also known as Meteor Crater, Arizona, USA. The crater is about 170 metres deep and 1200 metres in diameter. It was formed by an iron meteorite that collided with the Earth approximately 50,000 years ago.
Barringer Crater, also known as “Meteor Crater,” is a 1,300-meter (0.8 mile) diameter, 174-meter (570-feet) deep hole in the flat-lying desert sandstones 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) west of Winslow, Arizona. Since the 1890s geologic studies here played a leading role in developing an understanding of impact processes on the Earth, the moon and elsewhere in the solar system. It shows the crater much as a lunar crater might appear through a telescope. Morning sun illumination is from the southeast (lower right). The prominent gully meandering across the scene is known as Canyon Diablo. It drains northward toward the Little Colorado River and eventually to the Grand Canyon.
