Wetumpka Impact Crater - Wetumpka, Alabama - Impact Craters on Waymarking.com

There is a lot of information on the web about the Wetumpka Impact Crater. Estimates as to the diameter range from around four to six miles, and the age around 83 million years ago when this part of Alabama was part of the ocean. The city of Wetumpka is building a museum to house information at a different site, but this marker provides information for current visitors. The front has information about the crater, while the back has a map showing the layout and extent of the crater.

The text of the marker reads:

"The ridges located here are the remnants of a six-mile diameter circular feature created some 85 million years ago by an estimated 1,000-foot diameter asteroid. The area at the time of impact was a shallow sea. The ridges consist of a variety of metamorphic rocks and surround a central area comprised of large jumbled blocks of younger geologic strata. Drilling in the central area of the crater recovered fragments of rocks showing characteristic mineral alteration only associated with impact structures. The structure, although known for more than a century, was first identified as an impact crater in the 1970s."

The web link below is to the city of Wetumpka's information site. It has links to other sites such as those at Auburn University where several academic papers have been published.

The marker can be found at the intersection of U.S. Highway 231 and E S Boundary St.

Type of Crater: Complex Crater Diameter: 6 miles Age of Crater: 83,000,000.00 Crater Web Page: [Web Link] View from the Coordinates: The visitor will see a ridge covered with trees. This would be one edge of the crater area.

Visit Instructions:
1. An original photograph of your visit must be supplied with your log. Invalid logs will be deleted.
2. The waymark owner may have specific logging requirements

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   04/24/2020 HDAtha visited it 08/20/2013 hoteltwo visited it 08/13/2013 BlueLew visited it 02/27/2010 hart612 visited it

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