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Tabun-Khara-Obo crater

Coordinates: 44°8′N 109°39′E / 44.133°N 109.650°E / 44.133; 109.650
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Tabun-Khara-Obo crater
Tabun-Khara-Obo crater is located in Mongolia
Tabun-Khara-Obo crater
Location of Tabun-Khara-Obo crater in Mongolia
Impact crater/structure
ConfidenceConfirmed
Diameter1.3 km (0.81 mi)
Rise20 to 30 m (66 to 98 ft)
Age150 ± 20 Ma
Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous
ExposedYes
DrilledYes
Location
Coordinates44°8′N 109°39′E / 44.133°N 109.650°E / 44.133; 109.650
Country Mongolia
ProvinceDornogovi Province

Tabun-Khara-Obo is an impact crater in the Dornogovi Aimag (province) the south-east of Mongolia.[1] The crater, which is exposed at the surface, is 1.3 km (0.81 mi) in diameter. The crater's rim rises some 20 to 30 metres (66 to 98 ft) above the crater bottom,[2] but the bottom of crater is covered with up to 171 metres (561 ft) thick layer of lake deposits - a testimony that this crater in earlier times was filled with a lake.[3]

It has an estimated age of 150 ± 20 million years (Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous). The site was first identified as a probable impact crater in the 1960s,[3] although confirmation of the hypothesis only occurred decades later.[2] Drilling at the site in 2008 revealed rock features consistent with high-speed impacts such as those caused by meteorites.[2]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Earth Impact DB - Tabun-Khara-Obo
  2. ^ a b c "Tabun Khara Obo, Mongolia". NASA Earth Observatory. Retrieved 2009-09-08.
  3. ^ a b "Tabun Khara Obo". Wondermondo.

Further reading

[edit]
  • Amgaa, T., Koelberl, C., Anonymous, Geology and petrography of Tabun Khara Obo Crater (abstract). Meteoritics & Planetary Science, vol. 44, abstract 5019
  • Amgaa, T., Koelberl, C., Anonymous, Impact origin of Tabun Khara Obo Crater, Mongolia, confirmed by drill core studies. (Abstract). Geological Society of America, vol. 41, pp. 533. 2009
  • McHone, J. F., Dietz, R. S., Tabun Khyara Obo crater, Mongolia: Probably meteoritic. Meteoritics, V. 11, pp. 332–333. 1976
  • Shkerin, L. M., Geological structure of the crater-like feature Tabun Khara Obo (south east Mongolia) (in Russian). Meteoritika, v. 35, pp. 97–102. 1976
  • Suetenko, O. D., Shkerin, L. M., A proposed meteorite crater in southeastern Mongolia (in Russian). Astronomischeskii Vestnik, v. 4, pp. 261–263. 1970