Meteorite Falls, Finds and Impact Craters in North East Africa: Egypt, Sudan and Libya

The aim of this chapter is to provide an updated review of the available data concerning the confirmed and proposed meteorite falls and finds and their impact craters in Egypt, Sudan, and Libya. Among the 190 confirmed impact/sites on the Earth crust, only less than 8 have been identified in northeast Africa, in particular, BP and Oasis in Libya and Kamil in Egypt. Very few other structures of alleged impact are located in these countries have been described in the literature. The record of meteorites and their impact craters in North East Africa are still incomplete and debated. The only criteria that provide evidence of an impact are the occurrence of circular geological features and their shock-metamorphic effects on the target rocks (shatter cones and diagnostic shock-metamorphic mineral deformations). These effects are evident in the Kamil crater (Egypt) and most impact craters in Libya. The discovery of preserved meteorite fragments and the detection of the geochemical signature of meteoritic indicators should be considered carefully during fieldwork and advanced further studies. 

Keywords: Impact craters, Meteorite falls and finds, Northeast africa, Shockmetamorphic effects.