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Paris, october 7, 2004
Discovery of the largest field of meteorite impact craters
EXCLUSIVE
CNRS researchers [1] working as part of a Franco-Egyptian team [2] have discovered several dozen circular geological structures using radar satellite images that enabled them to view the underground sections of arid regions up to several meters in depth. These structures are gathered together in an area measuring 5,000 km2 in the Southwestern Egyptian desert. A mission carried out in the field in February 2004 has confirmed that most of these structures, 13 of which were studied in great detail, are meteorite impact craters. They range in size from 20 meters to 1 kilometer in diameter and may be up to 80 meters deep. This is the largest identified field of meteorite impact craters on Earth; only nine other such fields have been detected. This impact crater field is very likely the result of the fragmentation of several large meteorites that broke up when they entered the atmosphere.
The exclusive presentation of these findings appears in the October 2004 issue of the Journal du CNRS (see attached article). They will soon be published in the Comptes-rendus Géosciences published by the
Another field mission has been planned for December 2004, in particular to analyze the smaller craters, which may still contain debris from meteorites whose nature remains to be determined.
Please find attached (in french) :
- Cover of the Journal du CNRS October 2004.
Notes:
[1] Philippe Paillou, Observatoire Aquitain des Sciences de l'Univers, Floirac.
Bruno Reynard, Laboratoire des Sciences de la Terre, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon.
Jean-Marie Malézieux, Institut EGID, Université de Bordeaux.
Jean Dejax, National Museum of Natural History, Paris.
[2] Within the framework of a collaboration set up in 2003 between INSU and the University of Cairo.
Contact information:
Researcher:
Philippe Paillou +33 5 57 77 61 26,
paillou@obs.u-bordeaux1.fr
Press:
Isabelle Tratner +33 1 44 96 49 88,
isabelle.tratner@cnrs-dir.fr
Phototheque:
Marie Bacquet, 01 45 07 57 90,
phototheque@cnrs-bellevue.fr
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