Carancas - Impact Crater

Alternate Names N/A
Coordinates 16° 39' 52" S; 69° 2' 39" W
Notes
  1. Near Lake Titicaca, Desaguadero district. 3824m above sea level (Loayza & Cabrejos, 2014)
Country Peru
Region Puno
Date Confirmed 15 September 2007
Notes
  1. Confirmed by eyewitnesses as a meteorite fall. (Brown et al., 2008) is the first paper to analyze the impact crater.
Buried? No
Drilled? No
Target Type Sedimentary
Notes
  1. Sediments of the Puno Group. and (Loayza & Cabrejos, 2014). Formed at ~1m high creek bank. Creekbed is periodic watercourse (dry at impact, but contains subsurface water). Steep slopes with metre-sized slumping soil blocks in N and W directions. Crater rim on terrace is higher than the avg of 54 cm due to slumping and scattering(Kenkmann et al., 2009)
Sub-Type Quartzite, Soil, Fluvialsediments, Albite
Apparent Crater Diameter (km) 14.3 m
Age (Ma) Recent
Notes :
  1. Observed meteorite fall that produced an impact crater on 15 September 2007 (Harris et al., 2008).

Method :
  1. Observed
Impactor Type Ordinary chondrite, H4-5
Notes
  1. Ordinary chondrite of type H4/5 with diameter of at least 1 m fell (Harris et al., 2008). Meteorites recovered.

Advanced Data Fields

Notes

Local Language
N/A
Erosion
1
  1. In seasonal river bed. Formed at ~1m high creek bank. Creekbed is periodic watercourse (dry at impact, but contains subsurface water). Steep slopes with metre-sized slumping soil blocks in N and W directions. Crater rim on terrace is higher than the avg of 54 cm due to slumping and scattering(Kenkmann et al., 2009)
Final Rim Diameter
14.3 m
Maximum Crater Size
14.3 m
Number of Craters
1
Rim Reliability Index
1
  1. Sketch of crater dimensions in (Tancredi et al., 2008) and (LePichon et al., 2008), and (Kenkmann et al., 2009)
Thickness of Seds
Unknown
Target Age
Cenozoic
Marine
No

References

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A Le Pichon, K Antier, Y Cansi, B Hernandez, E Minaya, B Burgoa, D Drob, L G Evers, J Vaubaillon (2008) Evidence for a meteoritic origin of the September 15, 2007, Carancas Crater, Meteoritics & Planetary Science 43(11), p. 1797-1809, Meteoritical Society, Fayetteville, AR, url

T Kenkmann, N A Artemieva, K Wünnemann, M H Poelchau, D Elbeshausen, H Nunez del Prado (2009) The Carancas Meteorite impact crater, Peru; geologic surveying and modeling of crater formation and atmospheric passage, Meteoritics & Planetary Science 44(7), p. 985-1000, Meteoritical Society, Fayetteville, AR, url, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1945-5100.2009.tb00783.x

T Kenkmann, N A Artemieva, K Wünnemann, M H Poelchau, D Elbeshausen, H Nunez del Prado (2010) The Carancas meteorite impact event on September 15, 2007, Peru; the impact risk on Earth is underestimated, Schriftenreihe der Deutschen Gesellschaft fuer Geowissenschaften 68, Andreas Hoppe, Heinz-Gerd Roehling, Christoph Schueth (ed.), p. 302, Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Geowissenschaften, Hanover, url