Name: | Zhamanshin |
Country: | Kazakhstan |
Location: | |
Diameter: | 14 km |
Age: | 900,000 ± 100,000 years |
Coordinates: | 48° 24'N, 60° 58'E |
Link to Google Maps:
here
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See more: Earth Impact Database
Most impact structures have been moderately to severely eroded so that their crater rim morphology is no longer a strong clue to their presence and nature. Worn-down craters are sometimes referred to as astroblemes (literally, "star wounds"). Detection in space images is therefore difficult; breccias with associated shock metamorphic features are then the best indicators. Still, processed imagery can reveal signs of an astrobleme (sometimes drainage will adjust to the underlying structure, with a tendency towards circularity). A relatively young ( 900,000 years) impact crater, the Zhamanshin structure (13 km; 8 miles) in Kazahkstan, is a case in point. Examine first this Landsat false color composite; you may be hard-pressed to find the actual crater, for, despite its youth, it has been severely eroded.
This next image of Zhamanshin was generated from all non-thermal Landsat TM bands regrouped into Principal Components. Shown above are Components 2, 3, and 4 in Red, Green, and Blue
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