Fried Egg structure
The Fried Egg is an informal name for an underwater geomorphic structure that is a suspected impact crater. This structure, which lies at a depth of 2 kilometres (1.2 mi), consists of a 300 meters (980 ft) high and 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) in diameter circular dome that lies within a 110 meters (360 ft) deep, 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) in diameter, and roughly circular depression. It is this morphology on which its informal name is based.[1] It lies about 150 kilometres (93 mi) from the Azores archipelago.[2] Images that accompany newspaper articles show the presence of a well-defined rim that surrounds the roughly circular depression. These images also show a smaller roughly circular depression, which also contains a central peak, lies adjacent to the Fried Egg structure.[2]
This structure is less than 17 million years old as constrained by the age of the ocean floor of which it is a part. Based on its morphology and the absence of any obvious lava flows that can be seen in the multibeam echosounder bathymetric data, it is hypothesized that this structure is a possible oceanic impact crater.[1]
In news articles, it was reported that the Fried Egg structure was first identified using data acquired during a 2008 multibeam echosounder hydrographic survey. It presence was confirmed during a research cruise during September to November of 2009. In addition, it was reported that gravity and magnetic data were also acquired during the September 2009 research cruise and that a third expedition using remotely operated underwater vehicles to gather samples from this structure was planned.[2]
