Tenoumer crater

Impact crater in Mauritania

Tenoumer crater

Impact crater/structure
Confidence	Confirmed
Diameter	1.9 km (1.2 mi)
Depth	110 m (360 ft) (currently exposed) 300 to 400 m (980 to 1,310 ft) (originally)
Age	21,400 ± 9,700
Location
Coordinates	Tenoumer crater Asteroid impact location in Africa

Tenoumer is considered to be an impact crater in Mauritania.^[1]

Details

The crater is located in the western Sahara Desert. It is 1.9 km (1.2 mi) in diameter and its age was estimated to be 21,400 ± 9,700 years old but as of 2016, is thought to be ~1.57 Ma.^[2]

The crater is exposed at the surface and is nearly circular. Edges of the crater rise up to 110 m (360 ft) high above the base of the crater, but the bottom of the crater is covered with an approximately 200 to 300 m (660 to 980 ft) thick layer of sediments.^[3]

Tenoumer crater has formed in gneiss and granite of Precambrian peneplain with a thin layer of Pliocene sediments (no older). The crater is believed to be caused by an impact event due to basement rocks found outside the crater. A volcanic origin was once theorized because of the discovery of basalt and rhyodacite outside of the crater basin,^[4] but current evidence clearly indicates an impact origin.^[5]

References

^ "Tenoumer". Earth Impact Database. Planetary and Space Science Centre University of New Brunswick Fredericton. Retrieved 2009-08-16.
^ Schultze, Dina Simona; Jourdan, Fred; Hecht, Lutz; Reimold, Wolf Uwe; Ralf-Thomas, Schmitt (2016). "Tenoumer impact crater, Mauritania: Impact melt genesis from a lithologically diverse target" (PDF). Meteoritics and Planetary Science. 51 (2). The Meteoritical Society: 323–350. Bibcode:2016M&PS...51..323S. doi:10.1111/maps.12593.
^ "Tenoumer Crater, Mauritania". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2022-11-20.
^ METEORITE OR VOLCANO?
^ Brügge, Norbert. "The "impact" craters of Mauritania: Aouelloul, Tenoumer, Temimichat and El Mrayer". Archived from the original on 2010-02-23.