Tsenkher - Hypervelocity Impact Crater

Alternate Names N/A
Coordinates 43° 38' 24" N; 98° 22' 12" E
Notes
  1. Located within the transition zone between the Gobi Desert and the Altai Mountain range in a structural basin (valley).
Country Mongolia
Region Gobi-Altai
Date Confirmed 2019
Notes
  1. Confirmed based on the presence of PDFs in a quartz grain from a breccia sample (Komatsu et al., 2019). Originally identified as a possible impact crater on remote sensing data in 1997.
Buried? No
Drilled? No
Target Type Sedimentary
Notes
  1. Target rocks are predominantly Jurassic to Cretaceous. Thin Quaternary alluvial materials overlie the Mesozoic sequence (Komatsu et al., 2019).
Sub-Type Chert, Sandstone, Siltstone
Apparent Crater Diameter (km) Unknown
Age (Ma) 4.9 ± 0.9
Notes :
  1. 4.9 ± 0.9 Ma determined by 40Ar/39Ar of a vesicular melt rock sample (Komatsu et al., 2019).

Method :
  1. 40Ar/39Ar
Impactor Type Unknown

Advanced Data Fields

Notes

Local Language
N/A
Erosion
2
  1. Raised rim and preserved ejecta blanket (Komatsu et al., 2019).
Final Rim Diameter
4.2 km
Apparent Rim Diameter
Unknown
  1. The rim crest area has a varied width and can vary from 3.5 km up to 4.2 km in certain locations (Komatsu et al., 2019).
Rim Reliability Index
1
  1. The maximum rim height is ~50 m above the top of the infill at the centre of the structure (Komatsu et al., 2019).
Crater Morphology
Transitional
Central Uplift Diameter
Unknown
Central Uplift Height
Unknown
Uplift Reliability Index
4
Structural Uplift
Unknown
Thickness of Seds
Unknown
Target Age
MesozoicCenozoic
Marine
No
Impactor Type
Unknown
Other Shock Metamorphism
No
Shatter Cones
No
Planar Fractures
No
Planar Deformation Features
Yes
  1. One PDF was identified in a quartz grain from a breccia (Komatsu et al., 2019).
Diaplectic Glass
No
Coesite
No
Stisovite
No
Crater Fill
Unknown
  1. Breccias and melt rocks vary in composition from having a melt-matrix, melt fragments, and sedimentary and volcanic clasts. Glassy mm-sized spherules found in clast-rich melt rock. Breccia dykes a few cm to dm wide found in eroded rim (Komatsu et al., 2019).
Proximal Ejecta
MB, M, S
Distal Ejecta
Unknown
Dykes
LB
Volume of Melt
Unknown
Depth of Melting
Unknown

References

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G Komatsu, J Ormö, T Bayaraa, T Arai, K Nagao, Y Hidaka, N Shirai, M Ebihara, C Alwmark, L Gereltsetseg, S Tserendug, K Goto, T Matsui, S Demberel (2019) Further evidence for an impact origin of the Tsenkher structure in the Gobi-Altai, Mongolia: Geology of a 3.7 km crater with a well-preserved ejecta blanket, Geological Magazine 156(1), p. 1-24, url, doi:10.1017/S0016756817000620