An extended field of crater-shaped structures in the Gilf Kebir region, Egypt: Observations and hypotheses about their origin

Philippe Paillou*, Bruno Reynard, Jean Marie Malézieux, Jean Dejax, Essam Heggy, Pierre Rochette, Wolf Uwe Reimold, Patrick Michel, David Baratoux, Philippe Razin, Jean Paul Colin

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

31 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Using satellite imagery, we detected more than 1300 small crater-like structures distributed over an area of 40,000 km2 in the Western Egyptian Desert, close to the Gilf Kebir plateau. Sixty-two of them were visited in the field, and morphological observations, rock samples and ground-penetrating radar data were obtained. After presenting our fieldwork results, we discuss two hypotheses for their origin: hydrothermal vent complexes and meteorite impacts. At present, none of them fully satisfies the available observations.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)281-299
Number of pages19
JournalJournal of African Earth Sciences
Volume46
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2006
Externally publishedYes

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