The Vista Alegre crater is a
meteorite
A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the ...
crater
Crater may refer to:
Landforms
*Impact crater, a depression caused by two celestial bodies impacting each other, such as a meteorite hitting a planet
*Explosion crater, a hole formed in the ground produced by an explosion near or below the surfac ...
in
Coronel Vivida,
Paraná State Paraná, Paranã or Parana may refer to:
Geology
*Paraná Basin, a sedimentary basin in South America
Places In Argentina
*Paraná, Entre Ríos, a city
*Paraná Department, a part of Entre Ríos Province
* Paraná, Buenos Aires, a settlement ...
, Brazil.
On the surface it appears as a circular, relatively flat plain within otherwise hilly terrain.
Description
It is in
diameter
In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid for ...
and the age is estimated to be less than 65 million years (
Paleocene
The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), E ...
or younger).
[ More recently, a date of about 115 Ma has been given][A. Crósta, M. Vasconcelos (2013)]
Update On The Current Knowledge Of The Brazilian Impact Craters
44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2013) and closer to the age of Vargeão Dome. Considering the proximity of location, age, and stratigraphic similarities of Vista Alegre and Vargeão, it has been proposed that it was a double impact.[A. Crósta, C. Kazzuo-Vieira and A. Schrank (2004)]
Vista Alegre: A Newly Discovered Impact Crater In Southern Brazil
Extract from the 67th Annual Meteoritical Society Meeting" in 2004.
See also
* Vargeão Dome
References
{{Portal bar, Geology, Cretaceous
Impact craters of Brazil
Paleocene impact craters
Cretaceous impact craters
Cretaceous Brazil
Landforms of Paraná (state)
Craters