Beyenchime-Salaatin
Key facts
- Country
- Russia
- Diameter
- 8 km
- Age
- about 40 ± 20 million years
- Location
- 71.00° N, 121.67° E
A round depression about 8 km across in the Arctic tundra of northern Yakutia, Siberia.
Beyenchime-Salaatin is an impact structure about 8 km across in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), northern Siberia, in Russia. It lies in the Arctic, in the same broad region as the giant Popigai crater.
What it hit. The impactor struck a sequence of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks, including limestones and sandstones, lying over the ancient crystalline rocks of the Siberian Craton.
Proof of impact. The structure was studied by Soviet geologists in the 1970s and 1980s. They found breccias and shock features in minerals, which confirmed an impact.
Age. The age is poorly known. It is usually given as about 40 million years, in the Eocene, with an uncertainty of about 20 million years.
Why it matters. Beyenchime-Salaatin is one of several impact structures on the Siberian Craton, an old, stable region where craters survive well. The impactor is unknown.
Visiting. The area is extremely remote Arctic tundra, reachable only by aircraft.
Did you know?
Beyenchime-Salaatin lies in the Arctic tundra of northern Siberia.
It lies in the same region as the giant Popigai crater.
Its age is uncertain by about 20 million years.