Some 200 km north of Phoenix in the northern Arizona desert there is a well preserved Canyon Diabolo Crater known also as Barringer crater. This crater was produced by iron-nickel meteorite impact some 50 000 years ago.
The iron-nickel meteorite was circa 50 meters across and the impact energy was about 10 megatons. (For comparison, the most powerful ground US nuclear test Castle Bravo on Atoll Bikini had a yield circa 15 megatons of TNT equivalent).
Most of the meteorite vaporized upon impact but some 30 tons of iron meteorite fragments covered the surrounding plains.
Jan
The iron-nickel meteorite was circa 50 meters across and the impact energy was about 10 megatons. (For comparison, the most powerful ground US nuclear test Castle Bravo on Atoll Bikini had a yield circa 15 megatons of TNT equivalent).
Most of the meteorite vaporized upon impact but some 30 tons of iron meteorite fragments covered the surrounding plains.
Jan