Cloud Creek crater
Impact crater in Wyoming / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cloud Creek crater is an impact crater in Wyoming, United States.[1] The crater is located in Natrona County, about 48 miles (77 km) northwest of Casper, near the center of a geological feature known as the Casper Arch.[2]: 445
Cloud Creek crater | |
---|---|
Impact crater/structure | |
Confidence | Confirmed |
Diameter | 7 km (4.3 mi) |
Age | 190 ± 30 Ma Early or Middle Jurassic or Late Triassic |
Exposed | No |
Drilled | Yes |
Location | |
Location | Casper Arch |
Coordinates | 43°7′N 106°45′W |
Country | United States |
State | Wyoming |
Province | Natrona County |
The Cloud Creek structure is circular with a current diameter of about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi), and it is buried beneath about 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) of Mesozoic rocks.[2]: 445 The age of the structure is estimated to be 190 ± 20 million years, which means that it formed as the result of an impact during the early part of the Jurassic Period.[2]: 445 This impact feature is not exposed at the surface, but it is known only through wells drilled for oil and gas. First reported by Donald Stone,[3] Cloud Creek is a circular structure documented using several 2D reflection seismic lines of fair to good quality, gravity, magnetic and borehole data.[2] The structure has a central core of brecciated, fractured and faulted rocks uplifted up to 520 m relative to the normal stratigraphy outside the structure. The core is surrounded by an annular trough and a detached fault-bounded rim anticline. The rim anticline defines the 7 km diameter of the structure. The structure was compressed and upthrown during the Laramide compression. Morphometric parameters of the structure are consistent with known impact structures. The core is associated with a positive gravity anomaly. Magnetic data could not be interpreted.[2]