An Australian geologist "accidentally" discovered a crater with the help of Google Earth

The geologist Artur Hechtman searched on Google Earth for areas in Western Australia where there is a probability of finding various minerals, and accidentally discovered a crater

The next time you wander through Google Earth, pay attention to unusual landscapes. The geologist Artur Hechtman noticed an unusual area and today there is a crater named after him in Western Australia.

During his work he used the popular Google Maps software to find iron ores. Although the search yielded no results, what caught his eye was a non-standard structure of a circular terrain route. His curiosity grew and he decided to send a photo of the area to a colleague at the Australian National University - Dr. Andrew Legixon. Dr. Glikson visited the area and confirmed Hechtman's discovery that it was indeed a crater created by a meteor impact.

The area was mapped 20 years ago, but apparently the geologists who did the mapping did not notice the crater. The diameter of the crater is 270 meters, and the findings show that it is a crater that was created about 10,000 to 100,000 years ago. According to initial estimates, at the time of the meteor impact, energy equivalent to 200,000 to 300,000 tons of TNT was released.

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This is not the first time craters have been discovered with the help of Google's software. Exactly two years ago it was discovered A huge crater In the Sahara desert on the border between Egypt and Libya, the diameter of the crater is about 31 km and it became the largest crater ever discovered in that area.

Recently, more and more scientists are using satellite data to carry out various studies. The use of Google's software has become popular because it is free, easy to use and has many useful features. The software provides (in some regions of the world) very high quality images and Google even provides additional tools such as a tool that marks the world's most famous craters.

If you think you have discovered a new crater, try to compare it to other craters. They are usually not difficult to identify, they are unusual in the local landscape and have round edges. At the same time, it should be noted that not every round depression is a crater, there are other geological bodies that look like craters but they are not.

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