Red Wing crater
Encyclopedia
Red Wing or Red Wing Creek structure is a meteor
crater
located in
McKenzie County, North Dakota
, about 24 km (14.9 mi) southwest of Watford City, North Dakota
, United States.
The crater is not exposed to the surface, but was discovered using seismic techniques, and the structure has produced oil since its discovery in 1972. Red Wing is 9 km (5.6 mi) in diameter, and it is buried at a depth of about 2000 m (6,561.7 ft) The age of the structure is estimated at 200 ± 25 million years (Triassic
).
rocks are overlain by disturbed Devonian
and Mississippian rocks. The structural disturbance is filled by thick rocks of Jurassic
age, suggesting that the impact took place during the Triassic
.
Shell Oil Company
drilled exploratory wells on the Red Wing Creek structure in 1965 and 1968. These wells did not find oil, but did indicate very thick sections of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian
rocks. In 1972, True Oil Company drilled a well that discovered oil. This discovery had an oil column that was about 870 m (2,854.3 ft) thick instead of the normal 30 m (98.4 ft). This thick oil column was because the rocks were tilted on their sides.
The discovery of oil led to intense geological and geophysical studies of the Red Wing Creek area. In 1996, Christian Koeberl and his colleagues discovered planar deformation features
(PDFs) in samples from two oil wells at the center of the structure.. This provided unambiguous evidence for shock metamorphism, and confirmed the impact origin of the Red Wing Creek structure.
, working with John Spray of the University of New Brunswick
and Simon Kelley of the Open University
, that the Red Wing crater may have been part of a hypothetical multiple impact event which also formed the Manicouagan crater
in northern Quebec
, Rochechouart crater
in France, Saint Martin crater
in Manitoba
, and Obolon' crater
in Ukraine
. All of the craters had previously been known and studied, but their paleoalignment had never before been demonstrated. Rowley has said that the chance that these craters could be aligned like this due to chance are nearly zero.
METEOR
METEOR is a metric for the evaluation of machine translation output. The metric is based on the harmonic mean of unigram precision and recall, with recall weighted higher than precision...
crater
Impact crater
In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...
located in
McKenzie County, North Dakota
McKenzie County, North Dakota
-Major highways:* U.S. Highway 85* North Dakota Highway 22* North Dakota Highway 23* North Dakota Highway 58* North Dakota Highway 68* North Dakota Highway 73* North Dakota Highway 200* North Dakota Highway 1806-National protected areas:...
, about 24 km (14.9 mi) southwest of Watford City, North Dakota
Watford City, North Dakota
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,435 people, 619 households, and 378 families residing in the city. The population density was 964.8 people per square mile . There were 790 housing units at an average density of 531.2 per square mile...
, United States.
The crater is not exposed to the surface, but was discovered using seismic techniques, and the structure has produced oil since its discovery in 1972. Red Wing is 9 km (5.6 mi) in diameter, and it is buried at a depth of about 2000 m (6,561.7 ft) The age of the structure is estimated at 200 ± 25 million years (Triassic
Triassic
The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...
).
History
The Red Wing Creek structure shows up well in seismic studies. The underlying OrdovicianOrdovician
The Ordovician is a geologic period and system, the second of six of the Paleozoic Era, and covers the time between 488.3±1.7 to 443.7±1.5 million years ago . It follows the Cambrian Period and is followed by the Silurian Period...
rocks are overlain by disturbed Devonian
Devonian
The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...
and Mississippian rocks. The structural disturbance is filled by thick rocks of Jurassic
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
age, suggesting that the impact took place during the Triassic
Triassic
The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...
.
Shell Oil Company
Shell Oil Company
Shell Oil Company is the United States-based subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, a multinational oil company of Anglo Dutch origins, which is amongst the largest oil companies in the world. Approximately 22,000 Shell employees are based in the U.S. The head office in the U.S. is in Houston, Texas...
drilled exploratory wells on the Red Wing Creek structure in 1965 and 1968. These wells did not find oil, but did indicate very thick sections of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian
Pennsylvanian
The Pennsylvanian is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the younger of two subperiods of the Carboniferous Period. It lasted from roughly . As with most other geochronologic units, the rock beds that define the Pennsylvanian are well identified, but the exact date of the start and end are uncertain...
rocks. In 1972, True Oil Company drilled a well that discovered oil. This discovery had an oil column that was about 870 m (2,854.3 ft) thick instead of the normal 30 m (98.4 ft). This thick oil column was because the rocks were tilted on their sides.
The discovery of oil led to intense geological and geophysical studies of the Red Wing Creek area. In 1996, Christian Koeberl and his colleagues discovered planar deformation features
Planar deformation features
Planar deformation features, or PDFs, are optically recognizable microscopic features in grains of silicate minerals , consisting of very narrow planes of glassy material arranged in parallel sets that have distinct orientations with respect to the grain's crystal structure.PDFs are only produced...
(PDFs) in samples from two oil wells at the center of the structure.. This provided unambiguous evidence for shock metamorphism, and confirmed the impact origin of the Red Wing Creek structure.
Hypothetical multiple impact event
It has been suggested by Geophysicist David Rowley of the University of ChicagoUniversity of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, working with John Spray of the University of New Brunswick
University of New Brunswick
The University of New Brunswick is a Canadian university located in the province of New Brunswick. UNB is the oldest English language university in Canada and among the first public universities in North America. The university has two main campuses: the original campus founded in 1785 in...
and Simon Kelley of the Open University
Open University
The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
, that the Red Wing crater may have been part of a hypothetical multiple impact event which also formed the Manicouagan crater
Manicouagan crater
The Manicouagan Crater is one of the oldest known impact craters and is located primarily in Manicouagan Regional County Municipality in the Côte-Nord region of Québec, Canada, about north of the city of Baie-Comeau. Its northernmost part is located in Caniapiscau Regional County Municipality...
in northern Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Rochechouart crater
Rochechouart crater
Rochechouart is an impact crater in France.The crater diameter is still under study but is expected to be about . Its most recent age estimate is 201 ±2 million years ago, placing it close to Triassic-Jurassic boundary. Since then the crater has been deeply eroded, and no trace of its original...
in France, Saint Martin crater
Saint Martin crater
Saint Martin is an impact crater in Manitoba, Canada.It is in diameter and its age is estimated at 220 ± 32 million years . The crater is not exposed at the surface.-Hypothetical multiple impact event:...
in Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, and Obolon' crater
Obolon' crater
Obolon' crater is a diameter buried meteorite impact crater situated about southeast of Kiev in Ukraine .The site has been drilled, which revealed the presence of shocked minerals and impact melt rock; the high chlorine content of the latter suggesting that the area was covered by shallow sea at...
in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. All of the craters had previously been known and studied, but their paleoalignment had never before been demonstrated. Rowley has said that the chance that these craters could be aligned like this due to chance are nearly zero.