Araguainha Crater, Brazil

The largest impact crater in Brazil is located on the border of the states of Goias and Mato Grosso. The Araguainha Crater was formed over 254 million years ago. According to scientists, there was a small sea in the area, where the meteorite stroke. Many interesting theories about mass extinctions relate to the fall of the Araguainha meteorite. It is likely, that many species of animals and plants really ceased to exist as a result of a collision of a meteorite and the Earth.

The diameter of the crater is about 40 kilometers. It has a rather complicated structure with lots of radial and ring faults. The first large-scale research of the crater began in 1969. Scientists weren't able to find the origin of the meteorite crater immediately. It was treated as a cryptovolcanic structure. Only in 1973, this theory was refuted by the researcher Robert S. Dietz.

He found elements of a shocked quartz, as well as other mines, which indicated a clear meteoric origin. The Araguainha Crater has another amazing feature. Scientists have found that the initial diameter of the crater was only 24 km, but later it expanded significantly due to a series of collapses of multiple rampart falls. There's no problem for travelers to get to the crater, as next to it there are several small cities, with Cuiaba and Goiania among them. You can reach from there to the crater area by car. Next - Shoemaker Crater