The ancient crater, formally known as ‘le Clot,’ is about 220 m in diameter and 30 m in depth, and is located in the ground of the Domaine du Meteore-vineyard near the town of Béziers in southern France.
Small impact craters are quite rare, and proof of an impact origin is difficult to obtain, especially if remnants of the impactor material are missing.
The Earth Impact Database, hosted in the Planetary and Space Science Centre at the University of New Brunswick, lists only three structures in West and Central Europe: Rochechouart in France, Nördlinger Ries and Steinheimer Becken, both in Germany.
“Craters can form in many ways, and meteorite craters are indeed very rare,” said Professor Frank Brenker, a geologist and cosmochemist at Goethe University Frankfurt.
“However, I found the various other interpretations of how this depression at the Domaine du Météore-winery could have formed unconvincing from a geological perspective.”
First mentioned more than 70 years ago, the Domaine du Meteore crater was almost ignored for more than half a century.
In the 1950s, scientists suggested an impact origin of the crater based on its shape and a strong magnetic anomaly. However, their acclaimed colleagues rejected this hypothesis a few years later.
“The current crater has a 200-m wide and about 30-m deep circular shape with two stream beds crosscutting from north to south,” Professor Brenker said.
“The original size of the crater is difficult to assess as the overall topography is quite complex and intensive erosion from the nearby Montagne Noire might have eroded not only part of the crater rim.”
“It is also possible that the impact struck already intensively shaped terrain.”
Professor Brenker and his colleague, Goethe University Frankfurt’s Professor Andreas Junge, aimed to examine the Domaine du Meteore crater in detail.
With the help of strong magnets attached to a plate, they found tiny iron oxide spherules in the crater.
Further…
Read the full article here