Noerdlingen 2007

2 Jan 07. This is Noerdlingen. It is in the middle of a giant meteorite crater, called the Nördlinger Ries. The Ries is in fact an impact crater caused by a meteorite 14.8 million years ago in the Miocene. The depression has a circular shape and is 25 km in diameter. The bottom of the crater is about 100-150 m below the rim. The city of Nördlingen is located in the middle of the crater. In 1960 two American scientists, Eugene Shoemaker and Edward Chao, proved that the depression was caused by a meteorite. Until then it was assumed that the Ries was of volcanic origin. Nördlingen was the town shown in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in the final scenes when the glass elevator is floating over a town.