The Kamil Crater in Egypt
- Luigi Folco1,*,
- Mario Di Martino2,
- Ahmed El Barkooky3,
- Massimo D'Orazio4,
- Ahmed Lethy5,
- Stefano Urbini6,
- Iacopo Nicolosi6,
- Mahfooz Hafez5,
- Carole Cordier1,
- Matthias van Ginneken1,
- Antonio Zeoli1,
- Ali M. Radwan5,
- Sami El Khrepy5,
- Mohamed El Gabry5,
- Mahomoud Gomaa5,
- Aly A. Barakat7,
- Romano Serra8 and
- Mohamed El Sharkawi3
- 1Museo Nazionale dell'Antartide Università di Siena, Via Laterina 8, 53100, Siena, Italy.
- 2Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Osservatorio Astronomico di Torino, 10025 Pino Torinese, Italy.
- 3Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.
- 4Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Pisa, Via S. Maria 53, 56126 Pisa, Italy.
- 5National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics, Helwan, Egypt.
- 6Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Via di Vigna Murata 605, 00143 Roma, Italy.
- 7Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority, 3 Salah Salem Road, Abassiya, Cairo, Egypt.
- 8Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Bologna, Via Irnerio 46, 40126 Bologna, Italy.
- *To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: folco{at}unisi.it
Abstract
We report on the detection in southern Egypt of an impact crater 45 meters in diameter with a pristine rayed structure. Such pristine structures are typically observed on atmosphereless rocky or icy planetary bodies in the solar system. This feature and the association with an iron meteorite impactor and shock metamorphism provide a unique picture of small-scale hypervelocity impacts on the Earth's crust. Contrary to current geophysical models, ground data indicate that iron meteorites with masses of the order of tens of tons can penetrate the atmosphere without significant fragmentation.
- Received for publication 15 April 2010.
- Accepted for publication 29 June 2010.
