Beaverhead crater

Beaverhead is an impact structure in central Idaho and western Montana in the United States.^[1] Estimated at 60 kilometers (37 mi) in diameter, it is one of the largest impact craters on Earth. Its age is estimated to be about 600 million years (early Neoproterozoic).

The structure is named after the area in southwest Montana where evidence of an impact was first discovered in 1990. Other than the original shatter cones found on the perimeter, there is little visible evidence of the structure.

References

• Carr, J and Link, PK, 1999, Neoproterozoic conglomerate and breccia in the formation of Leaton Gulch, Grouse Peak, northern Lost River Range, Idaho: Relation to Beaverhead Impact Structure, in Hughes, S.S., and Thackray, G.D., eds., Guidebook to the Geology of Eastern Idaho: Pocatello, Idaho Museum of natural History, p. 21-29.
• Aerial Exploration of the Beaverhead crater

See also

• Chesapeake Bay impact crater

Coordinates: 44°15′N 114°0′W / 44.250°N 114.000°W / 44.250; -114.000

v t e Impact cratering on Earth Lists Worldwide Africa Antarctica Asia Australia Europe North America South America By country Confirmed ≥20 km diameter Acraman Amelia Creek Araguainha Beaverhead Boltysh Carswell Charlevoix Chesapeake Bay Chicxulub Clearwater East & West Gosses Bluff Haughton Kamensk Kara Karakul Keurusselkä Lappajärvi Logancha Manicouagan Manson Mistastin Mjølnir Montagnais Morokweng Nördlinger Ries Obolon' Popigai Presqu'île Puchezh-Katunki Rochechouart Saint Martin Shoemaker Siljan Ring Slate Islands Steen River Strangways Sudbury Tookoonooka Tunnunik Vredefort Woodleigh Yarrabubba Topics Alvarez hypothesis Breccia Coesite Complex crater Cryptoexplosion Ejecta blanket Impact crater Impact structure Impactite Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary Late Heavy Bombardment lechatelierite Meteorite Moldavite Ordovician meteor event Planar deformation features Shatter cone Shock metamorphism Shocked quartz Stishovite Suevite Tektite Research Baldwin, Ralph Belknap Barringer, Daniel Barringer Medal Chao, Edward C T Dietz, Robert S Earth Impact Database Hartmann, William K Impact Field Studies Group Lunar and Planetary Institute Melosh, H Jay Ryder, Graham Schultz, Peter H Shoemaker, Eugene Traces of Catastrophe book