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The Popigai impact structure is the eroded remnant of an impact crater in northern Siberia, Russia. It is tied with the Acraman impact structure as the fourth largest verified impact structure on
Most modern industrial diamonds are produced synthetically. The diamond deposits at Popigai have not been mined because of the remote location and lack of infrastructure, and are unlikely to be competitive with synthetic diamonds. Many of the diamonds at Popigai contain crystalline lonsdaleite, an allotrope of carbon that has a hexagonal lattice. Pure, laboratory-created lonsdaleite is up to 58% harder than ordinary diamonds.
* These types of diamonds are known as "impact diamonds" because they are thought to be produced when a meteorite strikes a graphite deposit at high velocity. They may have industrial uses but are unsuitable as gems.
Additionally, carbon polymorphs, a combination of diamond and lonsdaleite even harder than pure lonsdaleite, have been discovered in the crater.
Earth Impact Database
About the Popigai impact structure
UNESCO Global Geopark Network
Google Maps
{{Authority control Impact craters of Russia Impact craters of the Arctic Eocene impact craters Priabonian Stage Landforms of Krasnoyarsk Krai Diamond mines in Russia Diamond mines in the Soviet Union
The Popigai impact structure is the eroded remnant of an impact crater in northern Siberia, Russia. It is tied with the Acraman impact structure as the fourth largest verified impact structure on Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
. A large bolide impact created the crater approximately 35 million years ago during the late Eocene
The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...
epoch ( Priabonian stage). It might be linked to the Eocene–Oligocene extinction event.
The structure is east from the outpost of Khatanga and northeast of the city of Norilsk, NNE of the Anabar Plateau. It is designated by UNESCO as a Geopark
A geopark is a protected area with internationally significant geology within which Sustainability, sustainable development is sought and which includes tourism, conservation, education and research concerning not just geology but other relevant s ...
, a site of special geological heritage. There is a small possibility that the Popigai impact crater may have formed simultaneously with the approximately 35-million-year-old Chesapeake Bay and Toms Canyon impact craters.
For decades, the Popigai impact structure has fascinated paleontologists and geologists, but the entire area was completely off limits because of the diamonds found there. However, a major investigatory expedition was undertaken in 1997, which greatly advanced understanding of the structure. The impactor is suggested to have been a H chondrite asteroid based on ejecta layers from Italy, with the impactor thought to have been several kilometres in diameter.
The shock pressures from the impact instantaneously transformed graphite in the ground into diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...
s within a radius of the impact point. These diamonds are usually in diameter, though a few exceptional specimens are in size. The diamonds inherited the tabular shape of the original graphite grains and also the original crystals' delicate striations.
Diamond deposits
Most modern industrial diamonds are produced synthetically. The diamond deposits at Popigai have not been mined because of the remote location and lack of infrastructure, and are unlikely to be competitive with synthetic diamonds. Many of the diamonds at Popigai contain crystalline lonsdaleite, an allotrope of carbon that has a hexagonal lattice. Pure, laboratory-created lonsdaleite is up to 58% harder than ordinary diamonds.
* These types of diamonds are known as "impact diamonds" because they are thought to be produced when a meteorite strikes a graphite deposit at high velocity. They may have industrial uses but are unsuitable as gems.
Additionally, carbon polymorphs, a combination of diamond and lonsdaleite even harder than pure lonsdaleite, have been discovered in the crater.
See also
* List of impact craters on Earth * List of possible impact structures on Earth *References
External links
Earth Impact Database
About the Popigai impact structure
UNESCO Global Geopark Network
Google Maps
{{Authority control Impact craters of Russia Impact craters of the Arctic Eocene impact craters Priabonian Stage Landforms of Krasnoyarsk Krai Diamond mines in Russia Diamond mines in the Soviet Union