Rock Elm Disturbance

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North American Middle Ordovician impact craters, which may be part of the Ordovician meteor event. Key: 1: Ames crater, 2: Decorah crater, 3: Rock Elm Disturbance, 4: Slate Islands crater.

The Rock Elm Disturbance is an impact crater in Wisconsin, United States, roughly 40 kilometers southwest of Menomonie.[1] The disturbance is named for Rock Elm, Wisconsin, a nearby community.

The meteorite is estimated to have been 170 meters in diameter with a mass of 9x109 kg and impact velocity of 30 km/second. The crater is 6 km in diameter, and fossils found in the rock filling the crater suggest it dates to the middle Ordovician Period, about 455 to 430 million years ago.[2] It may be one of several Middle Ordovician meteors that fell roughly simultaneously 469 million years ago, part of a proposed Ordovician meteor event that includes the Decorah crater in Iowa, the Slate Islands crater in Lake Superior, and the Ames crater in Oklahoma.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "Rock Elm". Earth Impact Database. University of New Brunswick. Retrieved 2009-08-19. 
  2. ↑ Peters, Christopher William, Middleton, Michael D., & Cordua, William S. (2002). "Paleontology of the Rock Elm Disturbance". Abstracts with Programs - Geological Society of America 34 (2): 95. 
  3. ↑ Vastag, Brian (18 February 2013). "Crater found in Iowa points to asteroid break-up 470 million years ago". Washington Post. Retrieved 19 February 2013. 

External links

Coordinates: 44°43′N 92°14′W / 44.717°N 92.233°W / 44.717; -92.233

Lists

Confirmed
≥20 km diameter
Topics
Research


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