images

Kara-Kul impact crater, Tajikistan

by

Nasa/USGS/Novapix

Reference

t-cra08-00002

Date

2008-07-06

The mountain lake Kara-Kul, located in eastern Tajikistan, high in the Pamir Mountain Range near the Afghan border is a 25-kilometer (16-mile) diameter lake sitting at an elevation of about 4,000 meters (about 12,000 feet) above sea level. Kara-Kul was formed from a meteorite impact approximately 25 million years ago, leaving a crater with a rim diameter of 45 kilometers (28 miles). Islands formed from the central uplift can be seen in the northern and southern parts of the lake. Image taken from the Landsat-7 satellite on september 28 2001.