DR Congo ring may be giant 'impact crater'

DR Congo ring may be giant 'impact crater'

news.bbc.co.uk

The 36-46km-wide feature, identified in DR Congo, may be one of the largest such structures discovered in the last decade.

Italian researchers considered other origins for the ring, but say these are unlikely.

They presented their findings at the recent Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas, US.

The ring shape is clearly visible in the satellite image by TerraMetrics Inc reproduced on this page.

Only about 25 terrestrial impact craters are of comparable size or larger, according to the web-based Earth Impact Database.

(visit the link for the full news article)

There is a comparable impact crater in northern Quebec called Manicouagan that is one of the worlds largest...here is a link to a photo and a write up on it:

www.lpi.usra.edu...

Manicouagan is one of the largest known terrestrial impact craters. It is 65 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter...Produced by an asteriod impact some 200 million years ago,...

It should be interesting to find out how old this one is.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 3/11/2010 by iMacFanatic]

I think when all the data is added up we will find that not one impact causes the extinction of the Dinosaurs but that the earth went through a peppering over a set period of time and the animals never had the chance to recover.

Imagine seeing that object speeding towards you! I bet there are alot of craters like this that time has hidden from us. Just look at the moon, it looks like it got blasted by a huge shot gun!

-E-

reply to post by MysterE

This is true and while most of the moon craters are far older your post has made me wonder how many of the strikes the earth has taken were actually throw offs from strikes on the moon.

man theres a creator over 3k miles accros on mars it would swollow the us .
theres no dought earths been hit with some big rocks as well think about a rock big as texas hitting anyware . thats so big it would mealt the earths mantal . there would end up being no hole the earth would become remolten over a large portion of taht area.