Toms Canyon impact crater in the context of Chesapeake Bay impact crater

⭐ Core Definition: Toms Canyon impact crater

The Toms Canyon impact crater is a probable impact crater where one or more asteroids struck the Atlantic continental shelf, about 100 miles (160 km) east of Atlantic City, New Jersey. The submarine canyon is the drowned glacial-age mouth of Toms River.

The crater dates to the late Eocene geological time period (about 35 million years ago), and may have been formed by the same event as the larger Chesapeake Bay impact crater (and possibly the Popigai impact structure in Siberia), 200 miles (320 km) to the southwest at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, also dating to the late Eocene.

↓ Menu

Toms Canyon impact crater in the context of Popigai impact structure

The Popigai impact structure is the eroded remnant of an impact crater in northern Siberia, Russia. It is tied with the Acraman impact structure as the fourth largest verified impact structure on Earth. A large bolide impact created the 100-kilometre-diameter (62 mi) crater approximately 35 million years ago during the late Eocene epoch (Priabonian stage). It might be linked to the Eocene–Oligocene extinction event.

The structure is 300 km (190 mi) east from the outpost of Khatanga and 880 km (550 mi) northeast of the city of Norilsk, NNE of the Anabar Plateau. It is designated by UNESCO as a Geopark, a site of special geological heritage. There is a small possibility that the Popigai impact crater may have formed simultaneously with the approximately 35-million-year-old Chesapeake Bay and Toms Canyon impact craters.

View the full Wikipedia page for Popigai impact structure

↑ Return to Menu