Why is Meteor Crater in Arizona still visible when most impact craters created by meteorites hitting Earth are not?

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2026-07-15 11:20

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The Barringer Meteor Crater near Winslow, Arizona is still very distinct and visible, when other craters are worn away, for a couple of reasons.

1. Meteor Crater is relatively young; about 50,000 years old. The worst of the "intense early bombardment", when many of the Moon's craters were formed, was 3 BILLION years ago, and those early few eons used up most of the available rocks in near-Earth space. Those craters are mostly long gone.

2. Arizona is a desert, and has been since the end of the last ice age. There are few rainstorms, no floods, not a whole lot of natural erosion going on.

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