The Impact Crater in Alaska; Avak Crater

Within Alaska is a largely hidden massive impact structure which measures 7.5 miles wide and 3300 feet deep. It formed a mere 90 million years ago, and is today responsible for a portion of the area's vast natural gas reserves. This video will describe this impact which is located on the very northernmost tip of Alaska, and mention how its formation created a series of traps for natural gas to pool.

Thumbnail Photo Credit: Google Earth

0:00 The Northernmost US City
0:17 Avak Crater
1:04 Origin of Avak Crater
1:44 Impact
2:43 Natural Gas Trap
3:04 Shatter Cones
Google Earth imagery used in this video: ©Google

Photo Credit at 0m10s: Ambienthavok, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY SA 4.0-I

Citations:

Creative Commons Licenses:

[GeologyHub]

Avak Crater is a fascinating example of mineral/natural resource reserves being associated with an impact event. Around the globe, far larger craters are often associated with ore bodies of nickel and platinum. Also, if you are wondering why I did not post an April's fools video today...it relates to not truly having a good idea and not wanting to sound unprofessional. I had a "Jon Stewart" style satire video planned where I pretended to be one of those clickbait doomsday channels on youtube with some funny remarks and an overly obnoxious thumbnail. But in the end, I decided against this as it seemed unprofessional.

[u_t]

Finally someone who doesn't go off on a tangent for 20 minutes before getting to the point. Informative and direct. Thumb up from me.

[leaftye]

Discoveries like this is a nice bonus of oil exploration. Found with seismic surveys, then weird rocks when drilled, and eventually the confirmation you mentioned.

[ynda]

As long as we're in Alaska, I've always wondered how Anchorage's Flattop got its Flat Top. It seems to be the only one with the top taken off.

[JohnnyYTwestbrook]

I love the mount chocolate video you did last year on April fool's it was perfect

[vhhawk]

Thanks for not doing the April Fools. It's good to have science I can trust on this day.

[kevinbyrne]

I'd never heard of this impact crater. Thank you for posting this video.

[BluSTi]

Shatter cone. Didn't know I needed to add that to my list of cool rocks to see. Thanks!

[TheOutdoors]

I've been in that crater before and never even knew about it! Love your videos and especially love learning about the amazing geology of my home state of Alaska!

[edwardlulofs]

There were points in the video where I wondered if this was an April 1 video. Mostly because the previous video that I had watched was a spoof. In today's world, if you had posted that spoof video, I expect there would be a significant number of people who believed it. The publicity could have negative effects. I guess that is why few scientists have ( or show ) a sense of humor.
Thanks, this was another very good video.

[RANDOMNATION]

I love it when you do videos about Alaska. Pretty good pronunciation of what use to be called the city of Point Barrow. oot-key-og-vik Thanks. I use to do seismic surveying for Western Geophysical back in the '90s. I've been all over that part of the state. We happened upon a surprising number of crashed bush planes (long abandoned). I absolutely loved that job. No more exploration permits being granted these days, plus I'm too old to do that kind of work. The official job title was a "Juggie", in case anyone wants to look it up.

[WTH]

Great info on shatter cones, had not heard of those before.

[evillyn]

Alaska has many more interesting geological features than I imagined...and logically since there is SO MUCH Alaska it makes sense that outer space happened there too.

[Spartatrish]

Great historical video lots of interesting informative bits, God bless you! ✝️

[lonniefarmer]

THANKS, shock cones are a new one on me!

[elizabethsmith]

Loved this. So much interesting new information Thank you

[thearchie]

This was another great video. And extremely informative!
Thanks for all the work put into these lessons!

-per your request: would love to hear/learn more about the New Madrid fault that runs through southern Illinois /st.Louis area?!

[bw-leftturnracing]

Do we have an update on Mount Chocolate? I heard there was an earthquake swarm there recently 😆

[okboomer]

Very interesting, I did not know this, and learned new things.😀
Thank you!

[Kosmonooit]

Were the shatter cones found on the surface? The angle of incidence of the impacts are also worth knowing ....