COSMIC SECRETS
The Enigmas on Earth
Impact Craters on Earth
Impact Craters
South America

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Crater List
Brazil
 - Araguainha Dome Crater - Database
 - Riachao Ring Crater - Database
 - Serra da Cangalha Crater - Database
 - Vargećo Dome Crater - Database
 - Vista Alegre Crater - Database

Bolivia
 - Ituralde Crater - Database

Chile
 - Monturaqui Crater - Database

Argentina
 - Campo del Cielo Crater - Database
 - Rio Cuarto Crater - Database

Visit Also:
Earth Impact Database - The biggest collection of Earth Impact Craters
by the University of New Brunswick, Canada

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

Araguainha Crater
Brazil

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 Image Courtesy NASA/Landsat
Several South American impact structures have a tie-in with Landsat. A crater in Brazil named Araguainha had earlier been studied and classified as a dome. But when visited by Dr. Robert S. Dietz - reknown for his ability to find new craters - evidence (shatter cones and breccias) was found that pointed towards an impact origin. Samples were sent to Dr. Bevan M. French, a colleague, to search for shock metamorphic features. On the very same day he confirmed their presence, the writer (NMS) phoned him to say that I had found the following Landsat image, shown here as a subscene: (above)

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

Riachao Ring Crater
Brazil

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 Image Courtesy NASA/Landsat
Then more looking turned up a smaller crater (4 km), Riachao, about 50 km to the northwest. It is shown as the inset in the above image. An aerial photo taken of it later gives details about its appearance:  - SOURCE
Riachao Ring, Brazil
Serra da Cangalha Crater
Brazil

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 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
Vargećo Dome Crater
Brazil

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Vargeao Dome Crater 12 km in diameter and the age is estimated to be less than 70 million years (Cretaceous or younger). The crater is exposed to the surface.
Ituralde Crater
Bolivia

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 Image Courtesy NASA/Endeavor PIA03359
Click for Larger Image
Click for 54meg tiff
An 8-kilometer (5-mile) wide crater of possible impact origin is shown in this view of an isolated part of the Bolivian Amazon from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. The circular feature at the center-left of the image, known as the Iturralde Structure, is possibly the Earth's most recent "big" impact event recording collision with a meteor or comet that might have occurred between 11,000 and 30,000 years ago.

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

Monturaqui Impact Crater
Chile 

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 Photo submitted by Herbert Csadek, Astronomical Association Vienna (WAA); Kuffner Observatory, Vienna
This crater is very similar in appearance to the Barrington Meteor Crater in Arizona
Rio Cuarto Craters
Argentina

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The northeast-southwest aligned string of lakes spanning about 19 miles (30 kilometers) is the result of about 10 oblong meteorite craters ranging in size from a few kilometers to about 820 feet (250 meters) along their long axis. The shape and alignment of the lakes suggests a low angle impact. Small meteorites were found in a crater confirming the lakes impact origin. The crater lakes have been dated at less than 10000 years old. From southwest to northeast, these lakes include Laguna de la Sal, Laguna Venado, Laguna Monte (lake with a large island near the center), Laguna Cochico, and Laguna Alsina. These lakes are located in west central Buenos Aires state. The landscape surrounding the lakes is covered by cultivated field patterns. - SOURCE Google Earth
 
Campo del Cielo Craters
Argentina

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 Meteorito "El Chaco" with Luis Mammana
This crater is very hard to see, but it has yielded many large meteorites like the one above. El Chaco is one of five of the heaviest meteorites in the world (37 tons). It was unearthed in the 80's by W. Cassidy and his group.

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

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