Gigantic crater probably made by space impact in Congo discovered

An Italian scientist team announced the discovery of Wembo-Nyama crater, a gigantic impact crater in  Congo. The new crater, which measures between 36 and 46 kilometres in diameter, is claimed by some scientists to be one of the largest craters discovered in the past ten years or so.

Italian researchers who have had a chance to look at the feature proposed a number of causes for its creation, but eventually they themselves came to the conclusions that nothing but a space impact – most likely an asteroid or a comet – could have formed this hole.

The Unia River flows around the ring structure, underlining its round shape.

Some of the largest craters are:
- Vredefort: S Africa, 300km-wide, 2 billion years old
- Sudbury: Canada, 250km-wide, 1.8 billion years old
-Chicxulub: Mexico, 170km-wide, 65 million years old (buried under Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula)
- Popigai: Russia, 100km-wide, 35.7 million years old
- Manicouagan: Canada, 100km-wide, 214 million years old

Sources:

Softpedia,

BBC

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