Upheaval Dome Impact Crater

USA / Utah / Moab /
 impact crater  Add category
Elevation: 5924 feet (1806 meters)
www.nps.gov/articles/cany-upheaval-dome.htm

Upheaval Dome is an impact crater in Canyonlands National Park, near the town Moab (Utah, United States).

It is approximately 5km in diameter and the crater is estimated to be less than 170 million years old (Jurassic or younger). The crater is clearly visible on the surface as bright brown and black coloured concentric rings.

Until about 1995, Upheaval Dome was believed to be a salt dome. A salt dome is a phenomenon that occurs when salt extrudes upwards through a heavier layer of rock. In the 1990s, a team of geologists and seismologists from NASA and the University of Nevada at Reno performed a detailed study that included seismic refraction and rock mapping. The results of this study showed that the meteorite theory is more likely to be correct.

Upheaval Dome is a circular structure called an anticline. Surrounding this dome is a downwarp in the rock layers called a syncline. What caused these folds at Upheaval Dome? Geologists do not know for sure.

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Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upheaval_Dome
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Coordinates:   38°26'14"N   109°55'48"W

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This article was last modified 3 years ago