Across the planet, there are a surprisingly high number of various impact craters.
However, very few of these are located in areas that are densely populated.
Thus, the circular feature shown on screen provides a stark contrast to other remote
impact craters on the planet.
Known as Lonar Crater, this wide impact crater is today the site of a deep lake within India.
It measures 1,830 meters wide and 150 meters deep.
Originally thought to have formed only 52,000 years ago, a new set of evidence suggests
that it is actually quite older.
So, exactly when did this impact crater form?
How large was the asteroid which formed it?
This video will discuss this well preserved impact crater, and describe the scope of the
impact.
The Lonar Impact Crater can be found in the central section of India.
Specifically, it is 100 kilometers southwest of the city of Akola.
Approximately 570,000 years ago, a medium sized asteroid was on a collision course with
earth.
It measured 105 meters or 344 feet wide.
If you were to have taken a closer look at this asteroid, you would have noticed something
peculiar.
From a quick glance, the asteroid would have looked like an iron meteorite, but this is
not the case.
In reality, it was a chondrite, composed of many small grains of rock compacted together
but also containing large metallic fragments and an abundance of the mineral enstatite.
It formed during the early solar system 4.5 billion years ago when dust and grains of
rock merged together to form small asteroids.
However, unlike the vast majority of asteroids, it formed unusually close to the sun.
In fact, it formed somewhere inside what is now the orbit of Mercury, which is why its
composition is so unusual.
Even more interesting is that the composition of this asteroid was essentially a perfect
match for a large asteroid in the main asteroid belt known as 16 Psyche.
Although unproven, it is quite likely that it originated as a fragment ejected from an
impact on this 230 kilometer wide asteroid.
As the asteroid made its final approach towards earth, it began to further accelerate due
to the pull of Earth’s gravity.
Entering the upper atmosphere, this mass of rock was traveling at 25 kilometers per second
or 56,000 miles per hour.
Any animals that lived in this section of India, including the largest land mammal to
ever live called the Asian straight tusked elephant, may have looked upwards and seen
a bright streak of light travelling across the sky.
Due to its high velocity, the asteroid began fracturing into several pieces beginning at
an altitude of 55 kilometers as it quickly burned up.
Only 3 seconds later, fragments of this asteroid impacted the ground in a 450 meter radius.
These fragments hit the ground with an energy equivalent to the simultaneous explosion of
29 million tons of TNT, thus generating a destructive shockwave.
Mere moments later, a 3000 kilometer per hour wind swept across the landscape, instantly
killing all life in a 6 mile or 10 kilometer radius.
Any trees which existed in a 19 kilometer radius of the blast were soon flattened.
Concurrently, this impact generated a magnitude 5.6 earthquake on the Richter scale, which
would have been felt in a 300 kilometer radius.
Due to the immense size of the blast, the associated shockwave from the impact would
have been heard up to 2000 kilometers away.
After the dust had cleared, the scope of this impact event became clear.
Due to the slightly lower than average angle of the impact, the new crater was slightly
larger when measured from an east to west direction than when measured from a north
to south direction.
Since this crater impacted an area of ground that was covered in ancient volcanic rock
from the Deccan traps, it formed a steep edge on the perimeter.
The maximum depth of this crater was initially 385 meters.
Since its formation, the crater has been filled in by a crater lake, as the ash ejected from
the impact created an area where rainwater could pool.
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