Fried Egg structure

The Fried Egg is an informal name for an underwater geomorphic structure in the North Atlantic that is a suspected impact crater. This structure is at a depth of 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) and is about 150 km (93 mi) south of the Azores archipelago.[1] It consists of a dome 300 meters (980 feet) high and 3 km (1.9 mi) in diameter that lies within a larger and roughly circular depression 110 m (360 ft) deep and 6 km (3.7 mi) in diameter. It is this morphology on which its informal name is based.[2] Images that accompany media reports show the presence of a well-defined rim that surrounds the depression. These images also show a second but smaller circular depression, which also has a central peak, lying adjacent to the Fried Egg structure.[1][3]

This structure is less than 17 million years old as constrained by the age of the ocean floor of which it is a part. Based on its morphology and the absence of any obvious lava flows that can be seen in the multibeam echosounder bathymetric data, it is hypothesized that this structure is a possible oceanic impact crater.[2]

It was reported that the Fried Egg structure was first identified using data acquired during a 2008 multibeam echosounder hydrographic survey. Its presence was confirmed during a research cruise from September to November 2009. In addition, gravity and magnetic data were also acquired during the September 2009 research cruise and that a third expedition using remotely operated underwater vehicles to gather samples from this structure was planned.[1]

References

Bibliography

• Dias, F.C.; Lourenco, N.; Lobo, A.; Santos de Campos, A.; Pinto de Abreu, M. (2009). ""Fried Egg": An Oceanic Impact Crater in the Mid-Atlantic?". American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting: P43B. Bibcode:2009AGUFM.P43B1435D.
• Mikheeva, Anna (2017). The Complete Catalog of the Earth's Impact structures. Russian Academy of Sciences. p. 1. Retrieved 2019-03-14.