Upheaval Dome
|
|
Upheaval Dome is a meteor crater in Utah, United States.
It is 10 km in diameter and the age is estimated to be less than 170 million years (Jurassic or younger). The crater is exposed to the surface. Visitors will find Upheaval Dome in Canyonlands National Park, near the town Moab. It has bright brown and black colors.
Until about 1995, Upheaval Dome was believed to be a salt dome. A salt dome is a phenomenon that occurs when salt extrudes upwards through a heavier layer of rock. In the 1990's, a team of geologists and seismologists from NASA and the University of Nevada at Reno performed a detailed study that included seismic refraction and rock mapping. The results of this study showed that the meteorite theory is more likely to be correct.
External links
- Earth Impact Database (http://www.unb.ca/passc/ImpactDatabase/)