Kamil
A perfect small crater found in satellite images.
Key facts
- When
- probably within the last 5,000 years
- Where
- Western Desert, near the border with Sudan, Egypt
- What hit
- an iron meteoroid about 1.3 m across, weighing perhaps 5 to 10 tonnes
- Era
- In the age of humans
- Location
- 22.02° N, 26.09° E
Roughly 10 tonnes of TNT or a little more, at an impact speed of over 3.5 km/s.
About the energy of the largest conventional bombs: tiny compared with Tunguska, but enough for a 45-metre crater.
What happened
Kamil is a sharp bowl 45 m across and about 16 m deep in the remote south-west of Egypt. It was first noticed in satellite images in 2008, and an Italian and Egyptian expedition studied it in 2010.
It is one of the best preserved small craters on Earth. Bright streaks of ejecta spread out around it, just like the rays of fresh craters on the Moon. The desert around it was littered with thousands of pieces of iron, which had shattered when the meteorite hit. The largest piece found weighs about 83 kg.
The meteorite, named Gebel Kamil, is a nickel-rich iron that does not belong to any of the main groups.
Effects
Most of the iron did not survive whole: it broke into fragments that sprayed out of the crater. The study of Kamil showed that iron meteoroids of this size can reach the ground at high speed more often than had been thought.
The evidence
Meteorite fragments in and around the crater, shocked and melted sand and rock, and the clear ray pattern.
Did you know?
The site is so dry that the crater has hardly changed since it formed.
More than a tonne of meteorite fragments was collected around the crater.
Related pages
How is impact energy measured? See energy explained, or try the impact calculator.