Rochechouart crater, Chassenon

À propos de Rochechouart crater

”The Rochechouart crater is an impact crater tentatively centered at the hamlet of La Judie 4km west of Rochechouart, France. Its original diameter before erosion is thought to have been about 20-30km. Its most recent age estimate is 206.9 million years ago, placing it in the Rhaetian, close to the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. Since then the crater has been deeply eroded, and no trace of its original surface morphology is visible. The crater appears to be too small to account for the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event.The crater's surface extent includes the communes and villages of Rochechouart,Babaudus, Chaillac, Étagnac, Pressignac, Lésignac-Durand, Saint-Quentin-sur-Charente, Chéronnac, Chassenon and Chabanais. The remnants of this astrobleme have been a major subject of debate among geologists since their discovery in the early 19th century. The explanation was only given in 1969 by the French geologist François Kraut, who definitely proved the impact origin of the breccias. The Rochechouart impact crater was the first crater whose nature was proved by the impact effects on the rocks, without any circular topographic features being visible. New research from 2017 shows that this crater is a few million years older than the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. Lire plus

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