Laramie Potts is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

scientist

Scientist

A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...

 at the Ohio State University

Ohio State University

The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...

 who identified the Wilkes Land crater

Wilkes Land crater

Wilkes Land crater is an informal term that may apply to two separate cases of conjectured giant impact craters hidden beneath the ice cap of Wilkes Land, East Antarctica...

 with Ralph von Frese

Ralph von Frese

Ralph R. B. von Frese is an American geophysicist at the Ohio State University who identified the Wilkes Land crater with Laramie Potts.In 1969, von Frese obtained a B.A. cum laude from Park College in physics, mathematics and German. He earned M.Sc degrees in physics and geophysics and a Ph.D....

. He is from South Africa. He currently{December 2010} teaches geomatics (surveying) at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Potts is a Post-Doctoral Researcher in Civil

Civil engineering

Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...

 and Environmental Engineering

Environmental engineering

Environmental engineering is the application of science and engineering principles to improve the natural environment , to provide healthy water, air, and land for human habitation and for other organisms, and to remediate polluted sites...

 and Geodetic Science.

He and von Frese used gravity measurements by NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

's GRACE

Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment

The Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment , a joint mission of NASA and the German Space Agency, has been making detailed measurements of Earth's gravity field since its launch in March 2002....

 satellites to identify a 200 mile (300 km) wide mass concentration

Mass concentration

In astronomy or astrophysics mass concentration or mascon is a region of a planet or moon's crust that contains a large positive gravitational anomaly. In general, the word "mascon" can be used as a noun to describe an excess distribution of mass on or beneath the surface of a planet , such as Hawaii...

. This mass anomaly is centered within a larger ring-like structure visible in radar images of the land surface beneath the Antarctic ice cap. This combination suggests that it is the result of a large 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...

.