Steinheim crater

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Confidence Confirmed
Diameter3.8 km (2.4 mi)
ExposedYes
Steinheim crater
Synthesized view made with satellite images of Steinheim crater
Impact crater/structure
Confidence Confirmed
Diameter3.8 km (2.4 mi)
Age15.1 ± 0.1 Ma[citation needed]
Middle Miocene
ExposedYes
DrilledYes
Location
Coordinates48°41′12″N 10°03′54″E / 48.68667°N 10.06500°E / 48.68667; 10.06500
CountryGermany
StateBaden-Württemberg
DistrictHeidenheim
MunicipalitySteinheim am Albuch
Steinheim crater is located in Germany
Steinheim crater
Steinheim crater
Location of the crater in Germany
Shatter cone from the Steinheim Basin (type locality), Germany.[1] The width of hand specimen is 25 cm.

The Steinheim crater is a meteorite crater in Steinheim am Albuch, Heidenheim County, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.[2] The crater is located at the north-eastern end of the Swabian Alb, 40km west of the much larger (24-km-diameter) Nördlinger Ries crater.[3][4]

It is 3.8 km in diameter and the age is estimated to be about 14.3 million years (Miocene). The crater is exposed at the surface. It had previously been thought that the two craters formed simultaneously by the impact of a double asteroid 14.8 million years ago, but a study published in 2020 suggests that Steinheim could actually be about 500,000 years younger than Nördlinger Ries.[5][6]

Panoramic view of the Steinheim basin.

References

Related Articles

Wikiwand AI