DR Congo Ring May Be Giant Impact Crater 96
Phrogman writes "The BBC is reporting that deforestation has 'revealed what could be a giant impact crater in Central Africa, scientists say. The 36-46km-wide feature, identified in DR Congo, may be one of the largest such structures discovered in the last decade.' If you search Google Maps for 'Omeonga Democratic Republic of the Congo,' you will be right in the middle of the suspected crater."
Indiana Jones (Score:1, Insightful)
Whew... (Score:2, Insightful)
Good thing for deforestation, that big circular river would never have given it away.
Re:Deforestation (Score:4, Insightful)
Well then, we should keep deforesting the entire planet. Who knows what amazing discoveries await?!
We should not. The amazing discovery could easily be the one that increasing deforestation means more craters. (It seems kind of obvious when you take a look at the Moon.)
Not so fast.... (Score:2, Insightful)
If you look at the region with more than a passing "gee, neat" glance, you will notice that a stream winds its way around what should be the highest apparent point, the rim. Since when do rivers or creeks follow the rims of craters?
It would be far better to use Google Earth to view it, which should provide elevation data for points under the mouse, unlike Google Maps. I'd also like to see it in NASA's World Wind, which allows viewing the same region with imagery from multiple different (satellite) sources and might provide extra insight. I suspect this will prove to be some sort of plateau or mesa that just happens to have a rather familiar geometric shape, rather than an ancient impact crater.
Re:Similar feature (Score:4, Insightful)