Talk:Kebira Crater

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[edit] maps

added a google maps view. Someone could also add a .kmx file for google earth. Santaduck 04:37, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] location

Should there be a correction the location and or the stub type (or the addition of a Libya stub?) Despite the news reports, the center of the crater seems to be on the Libyan side of the border, although the eastern edge of the crater does edge into Egypt. Santaduck 04:39, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

I have changed to {{AfricaN-geo-stub}} (we don't seem to have a {{libya-geo-stub}}).

I'm not sure why the press release says is more than twice the size of the next largest crater in the Sahara, in Chad. There are two in Chad - Aorounga crater (12.6 km) and Gweni-Fada crater (14 km) - but the Oasis crater in Libya seems to be much near this one, and larger. See Earth Impact Database.

Should the "crater" in the name be capitalised or lower case? -- ALoan (Talk) 14:45, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Looking at the List of impact craters on Earth, some craters are capitalized and some are not. It seems to depend on whether "crater" is part of the name of the place (e.g. Meteor Crater, Chicxulub Crater), or whether it's just a crater with a name. I originally moved this article to the lowercase "crater" but someone moved it back saying it was a proper noun. If kebira means "large", which is an adjective that requires a noun, maybe it does make more sense to capitalize the C as part of the name. bcasterline^talk 15:13, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Not a confirmed impact crater

I changed this article a bit to make it clear that this thing is not a confirmed impact crater. Note the cautious wording in the first sentence of the original press release: “….which may have been formed by a meteorite impact…”. Unfortunately, many of the media stories that sprang out of the release missed the point that this is just a speculation based on remotely sensed data. As far as I’m aware the site hasn’t been investigated on the ground by El-Baz’s group, which is essential for confirmation. Some Italian scientists that have visited the area said they saw no evidence of impact near Kebira, but admit it does warrant further in situ investigations (PDF).

The press release later says: “The reason why a crater this big had never been found before is something the scientists are speculating.” My guess is that crater hunting geologists probably have spotted it before, but have been cautious in the absence of field data. There are lots of circular features in the general area, and some of these have previously been suggested as impact craters, but this now appear to be incorrect (see the PDF linked above). However, the nearby Oasis and BP impact structures are well documented.

BTW, this is not the first time El-Baz has reported potential impact craters in the area. In 1981 he reported a crater (Google Maps) 150 km ESE of Kebira, that he said had “…characteristics … similar to those of meteorite impact craters…” (Abstract). It turned out to be a volcano and is now called El-Baz volcanic crater. PeterWH 09:45, 3 January 2007 (UTC)