South America Map from Earth Impact Database

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Basic Science Studies II: Impact Cratering
by The Remote Sensing Tutorial

Image Courtesy NASA/Landsat

What we learned from the image was that the crater structure was about twice as wide (40 km; 25 miles) as field studies had suggested.The several tonal bands are due to differences in vegetation in this pampas grass country.

 - SOURCE
 - Araguainha Dome, Brazil

Image Courtesy NASA/Landsat

The hunt pressed on to find other craters in vegetated Brazil. Landsat was instrumental in finding this 12 km (8 mile) structure, Serra da Cangalha, with its central depression.
 - SOURCE
 - Serra da Cangalha, Brazil

Image Courtesy Malin Space Systems

Image Courtesy of Google Earth

Image Courtesy NASA/Endeavor PIA03359 Click for Larger Image Click for 54meg tiff

Although the structure was identified on satellite photographs in the mid-1980s, its location is so remote that it has only been visited by scientific investigators twice, most recently by a team from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in September 2002. Lying in an area of very low relief, the landform is a quasi-circular closed depression only about 20 meters (66 feet) in depth, with sharply defined sub-angular "rim" materials. It resembles a "cookie cutter" in that its appearance "cuts" the heavily vegetated soft-sediments and pampas of this part of Bolivia. The SRTM data have provided investigators with the first topographic map of the site and will allow studies of its three-dimensional structure crucial to determining whether it actually is of impact origin.

Two visualization methods were combined to produce this image: shading and color coding of topographic height. The shade image was derived by computing topographic slope in the northwest-southeast direction. North-facing slopes appear bright and south-facing slopes appear dark. Color coding is directly related to topographic height, with brown and green at the lower elevations, rising through yellow and brown to white at the highest elevations.

Elevation data used in this image was acquired by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on Feb. 11, 2000. The mission used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on Endeavour in 1994. The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission was designed to collect 3-D measurements of Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter (approximately 200-foot) mast, installed additional C-band and X-band antennas, and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between NASA, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) of the U.S. Department of Defense, and the German and Italian space agencies. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, Washington, D.C.

Size: 1 degree latitude by 1 degree longitude (about 111 by 111 kilometers or 69 by 69 miles)
Location: 12.5 degrees South latitude, 67.5 degrees West longitude
Orientation: North at top
Image: Elevation data, colored height with shaded relief
Original Data Resolution: SRTM 1 arcsecond (about 30 meters or 98 feet)
Date Acquired: February 2000 (SRTM)  - SOURCE: NASA Photo Journal

Meteorito "El Chaco" with Luis Mammana

There are twenty six documented craters in this region, the "Field of the Sky". Given the thickness of the virgin forest, there may be future discoveries of other similar craters. All the craters are numbered and some have own name. 

There are literally thousands of large specimens for sale around the world. This must have been a huge meteorite that broke apart and peppered the ground...

LPI PDF Study Paper

Location: 
Campo del Cielo, Gran Chaco Gualamba, Argentina, about 500 miles north-northwest of Buenos Aries. Latitude 27 degrees 39 minutes South, Longitude 61 degrees 44 minutes West.
Structural Class: 
Coarse octahedrite, Og, Widmanstatten bandwidth 3.0 ±0.6 mm.
Chemical Class: 
Group I, 6.68% Ni, 0.43% Co, 0.25% P, 87 ppm Ga, 407 ppm Ge, 3.6 ppm Ir.
Time of Fall: 
4,000 to 6,000 years ago

The first record of the Campo was in 1576. A Spanish governor learned of the iron from the Indians who reportedly believed that it had fallen from heaven. The governor sent an expedition under the command of one Captain de Miraval who brought back a few pieces of a huge iron mass he called Meson de Fierro (large table of iron).

The location of the find was the Campo del Cielo (field of the sky or heaven), a fitting name for the location of a meteorite. Since the Indians believed that the irons fell from heaven the name may have come from the meteorites. The area is an open brush-covered plain that has little water and no other rocks--very good country in which to locate meteorites.

The next record of Campo Del Cielo meteorites was about 200 years later in the late 1770s. The Spanish thought some pieces might be silver ore, but once they tried to process it, they found that it was only iron. A Spanish navy lieutenant excavated one specimen which he believed weighed 14 to 18 tons. This may have been the Meson de Fierro. He left he mass in place and it was not seen again--or was it?

In the 1800s more smaller irons were found. A pair of flintlock pistols reportedly made of this material were given to President James Monroe. Later analyses showed that the iron was not meteoritic. In the 1900s. systematic exploration revealed many more large masses; however, the Meson de Fierro remained lost.

In 1992, American meteorite dealer Robert Haag was arrested by Argentine authorities while transporting a 37 ton meteorite from the area. Haag had purchased the mass from a local person who claimed ownership. Unfortunately, the authorities disagrThe larger Campo del Cielo meteorites are found in and around a series of small craters in the southwestern part of the strewn field. The largest crater is 78 by 65 meters. A smaller one is 56 meters in diameter and 5 meters deep. All together, searchers have found at least 12 craters.

The main part of the crater-forming mass was found in each of these craters. This is in contrast to Canyon Diablo and Odessa where the main crater-forming mass is believed to have vaporized or shattered on impact. In this respect, the field is similar to Sikhote-Alin.
Time of the Fall Scientists have attempted to date the Campo fall by carbon dating of charred wood found in the craters. Dates of 5800 years (plus or minus 200 years) and 3950 years (plus or minus 90 years) have been obtained. These dates are consistent with an Indian oral tradition that the irons fell from heaven.

Many of the Campo meteorites are highly rusted and corroded by terrestrial chlorides, however some have significant areas of relatively fresh fusion crust. This too, is an indicator of a fall in the not-too-distant past. eed. Haag was released and the huge meteorite remains in Argentina. 

SOURCE Meteorite Market

The larger Campo del Cielo meteorites are found in and around a series of small craters in the southwestern part of the strewn field. The largest crater is 78 by 65 meters. A smaller one is 56 meters in diameter and 5 meters deep. All together, searchers have found at least 12 craters.

The main part of the crater-forming mass was found in each of these craters. This is in contrast to Canyon Diablo and Odessa where the main crater-forming mass is believed to have vaporized or shattered on impact. In this respect, the field is similar to Sikhote-Alin.
Time of the Fall Scientists have attempted to date the Campo fall by carbon dating of charred wood found in the craters. Dates of 5800 years (plus or minus 200 years) and 3950 years (plus or minus 90 years) have been obtained. These dates are consistent with an Indian oral tradition that the irons fell from heaven.

Many of the Campo meteorites are highly rusted and corroded by terrestrial chlorides, however some have significant areas of relatively fresh fusion crust. This too, is an indicator of a fall in the not-too-distant past. 

SOURCE Meteorite Market