Barringer Crater

The best known and best preserved impact crater on Earth; named after Daniel Barringer and still owned by his family, it is also known as Meteor Crater, Coon Butte, and Canyon Diablo. Measuring 1.2 km across and 175 m deep, with a rim 45 m higher on average than the surrounding plain, it lies 55 km east of Flagstaff, Arizona, at 35° 02′ N, 111° 01′W. It was formed about 50,000 years ago by the impact of an iron meteorite, some 50 m across and weighing several hundred thousand tons. Most of the meteorite was vaporized or melted, leaving only numerous, mostly small fragments of the octahedrite type, scattered up to 7 km from the impact site. Only about 30 tons, including a 693-kg sample, are known to have been recovered. (See photo, page 57.)


Barringer Crater An aerial view of the Barringer Crater in Arizona. U.S. Geological Survey