An expedition to the Zhamanshin meteorite crater took place in June 2013 in the Irgiz district of the Aktobe region, Republic of Kazakhstan. The purpose of the expedition was to search for impact melt rocks formed during the meteorite impact, as nothing of the meteorite itself was left after the impact. According to a local belief, “Zhamanshin” translates as “death trap”, or, as the locals told us, “the valley of death”. The coordinates of the Zhamanshin crater are 48°24′00″N 60°58′00″E. The crater was formed by the impact of a meteorite about three hundred metres in size. The crater diameter is 7 km and the depth is 300 metres.
It is difficult to determine the age of the crater unequivocally; according to various sources, it ranges from one million to 50 million years. The impact structure itself was formed at a temperature of about 1,700 degrees Celsius. It looks like solidified layers of brown and light-brown volcanic lava. Of particular interest was finding bubbled quartz, or lechatelierite (SiO2). Lechatelierite is usually found at meteorite impact sites, in places of volcanic activity and in places with frequent thunderstorms. Tektites, airborne impact glass, can also be found near the crater. This puts Zhamanshin among the rare craters, as in most cases either tektites or impactites are found at an impact crater.
