# Google Earth -- Is this an ancient impact crater? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 10, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-is-this-an-ancient-impact-crater/360153 "2006-06-10T02:07:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-is-this-an-ancient-impact-crater/360153/1 "2006-06-10T02:07:23Z")
I was exploring southern New Hampshire with Google Earth and came across [this structure [Google Earth required]](http://web.acsalaska.net/~fmurtley/ImpactCrater.kmz) in Pawtuckaway State Park that looks strikingly like the ancient remains of a terrestrial impact crater about 1 mile across, with a central peak. But I looked it up on [The Earth Impact Database](http://www.unb.ca/passc/ImpactDatabase/NorthAmerica.html), and it is not listed. So is it just a coincidentally round structure, or might it be a previously undiscovered impact crater? ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-is-this-an-ancient-impact-crater/360153/2 "2006-06-10T02:21:44Z")
If it is, do you get to name it?? ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-is-this-an-ancient-impact-crater/360153/3 "2006-06-10T02:36:14Z")
It looked like an old caldera to me, and a bit of googling about suggests that Pawtuckaway had volcanic origins: [http://nhgeology.org/jurassic.htm](http://nhgeology.org/jurassic.htm) > [@](#): > > The best known and largest example in New Hampshire are the Ossipee Mountains in Moultonborough, Sandwich, Tamworth, Ossipee and Tuftonborough seen in the box at right. Another excellent example, albeit much smaller, is Mt. Pawtuckaway in Pawtuckaway State Park. From the section on ring dikes. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-is-this-an-ancient-impact-crater/360153/4 "2006-06-10T02:44:36Z")
Google Earth community has a tag which says the following : > [@](#): > > …largely composed of volcanic mafic rocks… these magmas were injected at depths ranging from two to five kilometers in a concentric pattern, with little to no crustal contamination. > > [http://neigc.org/GSNH/TGSG.16.html](http://neigc.org/GSNH/TGSG.16.html) > [http://www.mindat.org/loc-30115.html](http://www.mindat.org/loc-30115.html) > [http://faculty.uml.edu/Nelson\_Eby/Field%20Trip%20guides/Hutton%201995.pdf](http://faculty.uml.edu/Nelson_Eby/Field%20Trip%20guides/Hutton%201995.pdf) > > see similar feature in Ossippee, to the north. Agrees with **yabob’s** post. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-is-this-an-ancient-impact-crater/360153/5 "2006-06-10T03:23:14Z")
[QUOTE=yabob] From the section on ring dikes. [/QUOTE] Thanks **yabob** , ring dike it is. Armed with the correct term, I have found lots of information on Mt. Pawtuckaway. I may take a drive up there this weekend and check it out. Based on my atlas, there is a road that circles between the outer ring and the central peak, called Middle Mountain, as well as a picnic ground and old Chase Cemetary. Looks cool. ---
**Author:** ![Bobbynugget](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bobbynugget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobbynugget)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2023, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-is-this-an-ancient-impact-crater/360153/6 "2023-02-11T16:24:30Z")
A few years back, they repaired the road and extended it so you can now take your car almost all the way through protect away reserve but by round pond in the middle of the reserve the pond sometimes goes over the road and that sometimes of the year could be up to 4 to 5 feet over the road so you would have to stop halfway through the road but that’s a wonderful area to take a picnic. I strongly recommend bringing a kayak or canoe with you and exploring the island in the middle of the pond. It’s amazing back there. It has a little cave in it and it’s a wonderful place to camp.