Barringer Crater

Barringer crater in Arizona is the three-quarter-mile-wide hole in the Earth, created by a meteor strike 50,000 years ago. The mid-sized meteor is estimated to have struck the earth at 8 miles-per-second. The dry climate and low precipitation in Arizona has preserved the crater.

Meteor Crater is a meteorite impact crater approximately 37 miles east of Flagstaff and 18 miles west of Winslow in the northern Arizona desert of the United States. The site had several earlier names, and fragments of the meteorite are officially called the Canyon Diablo Meteorite, after the adjacent Cañon Diablo. Some sources refer to the crater as Barringer Crater because Daniel M. Barringer was one of the first people to suggest that it was produced by meteorite impact, and because the Barringer family filed mining claims on the crater and purchased the crater and its surroundings in the early 20th century.

Despite historic attempts to make the crater a public landmark, the crater remains privately owned by the Barringer family to the present day. Because the United States Board on Geographic Names recognizes names of natural features derived from the nearest post office, the feature acquired the name of “Meteor Crater” from the nearby post office named Meteor.

Source: easyscienceforkids.com