This Meteor Crater In Texas Is The Second Largest In The United States

In Texas, we do like to brag about everything being bigger here, but sometimes being home to the second-biggest is pretty cool too. And that's true when it comes to meteor craters, which Texas is home to the second largest in the United States.

Despite being the second-largest in the United States and the largest in Texas, the Odessa Meteor Crater isn't very well known. Even in West Texas, people are surprised to learn about the meteor crater, so if your reading this and had no idea about the Odessa Meteor Crater, don't worry you aren't alone.

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What Is The Odessa Meteor Crater?

The Odessa Meteor Crater site was formed over 63,000 years ago when the area looked much different than it does today. When the meteor hit, the site was located under water. The site is one of several impacts sites, but the largest and the one you are able to access. According to CBS7 in Odessa, the impact moved a lot of water.

“And this was still a big lake so we’re roughly six to four hundred feet underwater. So it had to push a lot of water out of the way to impact the ground. So it became a rainy day very quickly” said Douglas Naetherlin, Museum Curator

While the crater was formed thousands of years ago, it wasn't discovered all that long ago. The crater wasn't discovered until 1892. There are actually 5 craters at the Odessa site and it's been reported that over 1500 meteorites have been recovered from the area. The Odessa Meteor Crater at one point was estimated to be 100 ft. deep. However, due to filling, wind, erosion, and back fill, the crater site is now only about 6-8 ft. deep according to NewsWest9.

Recently, Sidetrack Adventures made a stop at the Odessa Meteor Crater.