What was the Carancas meteorite event?
On 15 September 2007, a stony meteorite struck the ground near Carancas in Peru, making a crater about 14 metres wide, a rare case of a stony meteorite creating a crater.
On 15 September 2007, residents of Carancas, a village near Lake Titicaca in Peru, saw a fireball and heard a loud explosion. When they went to investigate, they found a fresh crater about 13 to 14 metres across, filled with muddy water, steaming and smelling strongly.
A surprise. Scientists were surprised because stony meteoroids usually break apart in the atmosphere and slow down, reaching the ground at only a few hundred kilometres per hour, too slowly to dig craters. Yet the Carancas meteoroid, an ordinary chondrite, struck at a speed estimated at several kilometres per second, digging a true impact crater.
Why? One explanation is that the meteoroid, perhaps 1 to 3 metres across before entry, was unusually strong and stayed largely intact. The high altitude of the site, about 3,800 metres, meant there was less air to slow it down.
Illness reports. Local people reported headaches and nausea after visiting the crater. Scientists suggested this may have been caused by the strong smell, possibly from sulfur compounds, or arsenic in groundwater released by the impact, or by anxiety. No lasting health effects were confirmed.
The meteorite. Fragments of an H4-5 ordinary chondrite were recovered from in and around the crater.
Significance. Carancas showed that small stony meteoroids can occasionally produce craters, which matters for understanding impact hazards and for interpreting small craters on Earth and other planets.