Arkenu craters
Encyclopedia
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
. They are 10 km and 6.8 km in diameter
Diameter
In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints are on the circle. The diameters are the longest chords of the circle...
, and lie about 70 km west of Jabal Arkanu
Jabal Arkanu
Jabal Arkanu is a mountain and a valley-oasis placed in the Libyan Desert in the Kufra District of Libya, about 300 km southeast of El Tag...
. The craters are believed to have formed simultaneously as a double impact event
Impact event
An impact event is the collision of a large meteorite, asteroid, comet, or other celestial object with the Earth or another planet. Throughout recorded history, hundreds of minor impact events have been reported, with some occurrences causing deaths, injuries, property damage or other significant...
less than 140 million years ago (Jurassic
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
or younger). Both are exposed at the surface.