One of my Viewers may have Discovered a New Impact Crater!

One of my viewers may have discovered a previously known impact crater that measures 4.8 miles or 7.7 kilometers wide. This feature was found via Google Earth at an elevation of more than 10,000 feet above sea level in Xinjiang, China. While this has not been confirmed yet as an impact structure, a knowledgeable expert deems it worth further investigation/study.

A special thanks to:
-Dr. Osinski
-MrBlock from Missouri, USA
-And dedicated youtube viewers who sent me lists of coordinates

GPS Coordinates: 38°16'2.45"N, 88° 7'24.24"E

Images with a list of eruption dates have their dates sourced from the GVP of the Smithsonian Institution.

Google Earth imagery used in this video: ©Google & Data Providers

Thumbnail Photo Credit: EOSDIS Worldview, NASA Worldview, Terra / MODIS

Creative Commons Licenses used for specific content (such as a single image within the video which as a whole does not entirely fall under the same license) or sections of specific content (such as a photo within a table) in this video (not the entire table for this example):

0:00 Impact Structures
0:50 Sets of Coordinates
2:24 Impact Crater Candidate
3:12 Dr. Osinski's Opinion
3:44 Scientific Method
4:07 A Viewer Request

Image Sources:

[GeologyHub]

I must note that this circular structure could represent an unusually large pluton or a caldera remnant. More scientific work needs to be done to be sure.

[oakhillclassroom]

Mr.Rock From Missouri USA literally rocks

[dfaulted]

I enjoy the short video's for something quick but i would love to see a long video where once every week or two you go into a deep dive about something specific.

[BackYardScience]

I absolutely love how you collaborate with your viewers to find and explore undiscovered features to either confirm or deny the hypothesis that they are what people think they are. Most other channels would just brush these people off and laugh at them without giving them a second thought or chance to see if they are indeed correct. Thank you very much for staying down to earth and for being nice enough to work with your viewers and help them learn more. If I could subscribe a million times to help you make as much money as possible through views on your videos I certainly would. I would like to show you some pictures that I took of some nice geologic features in the mountains of eastern Kentucky that I believe to be fossilized sand dunes as they mostly match what I've seen in other videos on the subject, but I am certainly not an expert and want to get many opinions on this before I say one way or another what it truly is. Can I send the pictures to you? If so, where can I send them to see if you can verify or deny my hypothesis about these features that I've photographed in the rock cuts of eastern Kentucky? I'd very much appreciate any input into this that you are willing to provide and I'd be delighted to discuss this possibility with you as I am in that area for work a lot and can get many, many pictures that you yourself can use in your videos as examples free of charge. What do you say, can you help a guy out who is fascinated by this? Thank you for your time and consideration. 🙂

[charlottehardy]

It really is interesting what people can find using Google earth, both natural and caused by humans, which has remained unseen previously.

[TakoyakiStore]

I really enjoyed this. Just because a hobbiest or novice voices an observation doesn't mean that their is zero validity to every one of their claims. It's fun to go through the data of such submissions I would think for a scientist just in case one or 2 turn up a new discovery.

This also reminds me of something my mother and I saw in arial photos of our small Central Florida town. It looked like a fissure or low point in the land and made a 10° turn after a mile or two and ending with a small lake with an island in the middle. It looked like an impact crater at a very low angle but the turn made that unlikely. It also wasn't a river because it was unnaturally straight, nor was it due to tectonic movement (Florida is notoriously geologically dry, flat, far from the nearest tectonic edge). We thought maybe it was man made but it wasn't near the historic Coca Cola bottling plant or near the St Johns river if it was for orange or turpentine production.

It was a mystery for decades, even the local historians called it "the feature". Well finally someone solved it. A small company in the 1880's tried logging the pine trees and dug a canal from the forest to the no longer existing railroad. It never made much money and was abandoned only a few years later.

[sullivan]

Given it's location, it could have been a REALLY old crater, that was then infilled by Tethys sea sediment and the raised to it's current position during the Cimmerian Orogeny.

[StuffandThings_]

Its super cool (although somewhat expected) that you have contact with experts in the field. A crowdfunded geology project through your channel could be an amazing experience! Just have thousands of fans scour the Earth for various geologic features, then sort them into good or bad candidates and have experts further review them. I for one would love to take part in such a project!

[paulholleger]

Field Work in Xinjiang might be quite a challenge at the moment, given the political situation in the region.

[FURBjr]

This is one of the main reasons I am a daily viewer to GeologyHub. I feel like if I had something worthwhile to contribute and asked a question, señor geology huh would take it seriously. Thank you for what you and the people contributing to this channel do. I find it deeply rewarding as a lay person.

[vaskitheinsane]

This is so cool! Thanks for the awesome content as always!

[jamesgarman]

The thing I like best about this video is that you have done a really good job of explaining the process for something to go from a hypothesis to a bonafide theory. It’s amazing how many people will immediately jump to a conclusion without the evidence/data needed to reach a good conclusion.

[TrafficCamWatch]

Any of these low quality/high quality suggestions in the US and do you care to share the coordinates with the class? I'd definitely like to visit them depending on their location or some ground level photos/sampling.

[jonathanellsworth]

Will we get another feature on the second potential crater if more progress is made on that as well?

[nortyfiner]

Correction: the Earth's surface has been almost entirely mapped FROM SATELLITES. Direct exploration at ground level is a different matter entirely. There are still many areas in the various jungles, mountains, and other inhospitable regions of the Earth -- even in the lower 48 of the USA -- where the difficulties and distances involved have minimized or prevented exploration. That's why Yantarni and Hayes went undiscovered in Alaska until the 1970s, and why Canada's volcanoes are so poorly studied, to name two geology related examples.

[rafaelvalimfernandes]

Thank you for reviewing one I sent some time ago, which is not the focus of this video. I´m very happy!

[MihzvolWuriar]

Could you please post the coordinates of the Brazilian feature?
I'm Brazilian and I know many geologists, I can talk to some of them and ask for a explanation of what it is.
Since it wasn't deemed worth of a follow up as a impact crater, we could at least know what it is...

[melanezoe]

I love seeing the scientific process in action.

[AmazingPhilippines]

Very interesting discussion. Have you discussed the possible impact craters in the SE USA?

[newphazet]

What a fantastic community you have gathered. Glad to be here!