Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology => Topic started by: Macgomes on 12/07/2019 20:18:34

Title: Does anyone know anything about these two craters in Mongolia?
Post by: Macgomes on 12/07/2019 20:18:34

Hello everyone,,
I spotted these two craters while browsing in GoogleEarth but I've been unable to find out anything about them.  They're located in Nei Mongol and the closest large settlement I can find seems to be Xilin Gol.  There are known volcanic features in this region but they seem to be quite someway from these structures.  Similarly, there is a known, but much smaller impact crater, Tabun-Khara-Obo, about 366 km to the west.

Google Maps (see below) shows a label "Huarggen Tala" beside the larger of the two structures but I get no hits from this in a Google search.  Note that if you look at them in GoogleMaps Terrain view, the smaller northern structure appears to have a clearly defined central peak, typical of impact craters, whereas the larger southern structure is much less clearly defined.

Unfortunately, we can't upload .kmz attachments for GoogleEarth, but the co-ordinates are  44°13'47.64"N 114°14'8.52"E

Looking a little further to the East, I just noticed the three structures too.

Title: Re: Does anyone know anything about these two craters in Mongolia?
Post by: pensador on 14/07/2019 17:02:59

It is hard to tell from google earth they are about 5 to maybe 6km diameter. One appears to have additional craters inside it, which might be the result of volcanic activity.

https://earth.google.com/web/@44.21252092,114.22617598,1095.72239197a,23083.02733755d,35y,285.42113387h,0t,0r

Do you have  any information on the altitude of the interior and exterior of the cones. If the interior is lower than the exterior then they are likely impact craters and not volcanic in origins. If the interiour is higher then it is likely volcanic according to this link.
https://www.psi.edu/epo/faq/impact_cratering.html

Here is a few pics of impact craters