Gilf Kebir Crater Field

Egypt / al-Wadi al-Jadid / El Harga /
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one of the largest area of impact-like craters on earth, some 4500 km² between 23°10' and 23°40' North and 26°50' und 27°35' east. Many impacts craters can be detected in this area on satellite images, ranging from 20 to 2500 meters in diametre. An expedition led by Philippe Paillou, Observatoire Aquitain des Sciences de l'Univers, Floirac in cooperation with Cairo University made a research of 13 of these craters, results beeing published in 2004 (france.elsevier.com/direct/CRAS2A/). The craters can be the result of the impact of one big or several smaller meterorites that fragmented in the high stratosphere into many smaller pieces. Photoes: see crater GKCF 13 Rahman. Polygon is smaller than the region due to technical restrictions WIKIMAPIA.
In 2008 was published the article Non-impact origin of the crater-like structures in the Gilf Kebir area (Egypt): Implications for the geology of eastern Sahara October 2008 Meteoritics & Planetary Science 43(10):1629-1639 DOI: 10.1111/j.1945-5100.2008.tb00633.x
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Coordinates:   23°23'23"N   27°11'23"E
This article was last modified 3 years ago