Barringer Crater: Recreating Anomalous Impact Morphology through Sandbox Modelling

Barringer crater is the most well studied impact crater on the earth's surface, its abnormal squared shape has been hotly debated for over a hundred years. This poster puts forward a model based on the structural geology of the pre-impact region that is supported through sandbox modelling, prior field studies, and remote sensing observation. The primary cause of the squared shape described within is a direct impact to the hinge of an anticline that bears multiple joints alongside plentiful regional faulting, that all potentially contributed to the abnormal morphology of the crater through propagation of impact shockwave along existing fissures.