United States Meteorite Impact Craters

The Ames, Oklahoma impact crater is a 16 km structure that is only very subtly expressed in overlying sediments at the surface.  The crater is buried, along with the Ordovician (470 +_30 myo) rocks in which it is preserved, beneath approximately 9000 feet (~2750 meters) of sediment.  The location was identified as an impact crater during oil field exploration and development, and has subsequently produced significant quantities of both oil and natural gas.

Evidence of Impact Origin

Without the identification and publication of unambiguous diagnostic evidence of hypervelocity impact in a scientific (preferably peer reviewed) context, a geological structure is not a confirmed impact crater.  The impact origin of each site listed on this website has been supported by rigorous scientific work that has been subsequently published in an appropriate context.  This section is not meant to provide an exhaustive list of such published evidence, but rather to demonstrate that appropriate work has been done.

Unambiguous evidence of impact origin has been presented in:

Koeberl et al., 2001; Koeberl et al., 1997.

Nature of evidence:

• planar deformation features in quartz

Other significant evidence: morphology, breccias, melt lithologies, PDFs in K-Feldspar grains.

Bibliography and References:

(If links to articles don't work, don't give up. Try pasting the link shown into a search engine or searching for the article authors, title, or other reference information.  If your research leads you to additional scientific references related to this crater, please help improve this resource by sending a note with the new citation(s) to: )

Ahern J. L. (1997) Gravity and magnetic investigation of the Ames structure, north-central Oklahoma. In Ames Structure in Northwest Oklahoma and Similar Features: Origin and Petroleum Production (1995 Symposium) (eds. K. S. Johnson andJ. A. Campbell. pp. 330-333. Oklahoma Geological Survey Circular 100.

Ambers C. P., Bandlein P., Gilbert M. C. (1997) Petrology of enigmatic rocks from 2.75 km depth in the Ames structural anomaly, Major County, Oklahoma, and their relationship to suevite from the Ries crater, Nordlingen, Bavaria. In Ames Structure in Northwest Oklahoma and Similar Features: Origin and Petroleum Production (1995 Symposium) (eds. K. S. Johnson and J. A. Campbell), pp. 302-309. Oklahoma Geological Survey Circular 100.

Attrep M. Jr., Quintana L. R., Cisneros M. R. (1997) Iridium in samples from the Ames structure. In Ames Structure in Northwest Oklahoma and Similar Features: Origin and Petroleum Production (1995 Symposium) (eds. K. S. Johnson and J. A. Campbell), pp. 375-378. Oklahoma Geological Survey Circular 100.

Barton R., Bird K., Hernandez J. G., Grajales-Nishimura J. M., Murillo-Muneton G., Herber B., Weimer P., Koeberl C., Neumaier M., Schenk O., Stark J. (2009) High-impact reservoirs: Oilfield Review, Winter Issue, v. 4, p. 14-29



Bridges L. W. D. (1997) Ames depression, Oklahoma: Domal collapse and later subsurface solution. In Ames Structure in Northwest Oklahoma and Similar Features: Origin and Petroleum Production (1995 Symposium) (eds. K. S. Johnson and J. A. Campbell). pp. 153-168. Oklahoma Geological Survey Circular 100.



Carpenter B. N., Carlson R. (1992) The Ames impact crater. Oklahoma Geological Survey, Oklahoma Geology Notes, Volume 52, No. 6,  pp. 208-223.



Carpenter B. N., Carlson R. (1997) The Ames meteorite-impact crater, in K.S. Johnson and J.A. Campbell, editors, Ames structure in northwest Oklahoma and similar features; origin and petroleum production (1995 symposium): Oklahoma Geological Survey Circular 100, p. 104-119.

Carpenter B. N., Carlson R. (1994) The Ames Impact Crater. Houston Geological Society Bulletin, Volume 37, No. 3, November 1994. pp. 20-25.

Denison R. E., Stern R. J., Sun C-H. (1997) Basement rocks in the Ames area. In Ames Structure in Northwest Oklahoma and Similar Features: Origin and Petroleum Production (1995 Symposium) (eds. K. S. Johnson and J. A. Campbell), pp. 334-338. Oklahoma Geological Survey Circular 100.

Fischer J. F. (1997) The Nicor No. 18-4 Chestnut core, Ames structure, Oklahoma: Description and petrography. In Ames Structure in Northwest Oklahoma and Similar Features: Origin and Petroleum Production (1995 Symposium) (eds. K. S. Johnson and J. A. Campbell), pp. 223-239. Oklahoma Geological SurveyCircular 100.

Hamm H. and Olsen R. E. (1992) Oklahoma Arbuckle lime exploration centered on buried astrobleme structure. Oil and Gas Journal, Volume 90, p. 113-116.

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Hannibal J. T., Feldmann R. M. (1997) Phyllocarid crustaceans from a middle Ordovician black shale within the Ames structure, northwest Oklahoma. In Ames Structure in Northwest Oklahoma and Similar Features: Origin and Petroleum Production (1995 Symposium) (eds. K. S. Johnson and J. A. Campbell), pp. 370-373. Oklahoma Geological Survey Circular 100.

Huffman A. R. (1997) Shock-induced microstructures and experimental constraints on the formation of the Ames impact structure. In Ames Structure in Northwest Oklahoma and Similar Features: Origin and Petroleum Production (1995 Symposium) (eds. K. S. Johnson and J. A. Campbell), pp. 310-325. Oklahoma Geological Survey Circular 100.

Johnson K . S., Campbell J. A., Eds. (1997) Ames Structure in Northwest Oklahoma and Similar Features: Origin and Petroleum Production (1995 Symposium). Oklahoma Geological Survey Circular 100, Norman, Oklahoma, USA. 396 pp.

Johnson K . S., Smith D. (1997) Ames structure of northwestern Oklahoma is reflected in overlying Permian strata. In Ames Structure in Northwest Oklahoma and Similar Features: Origin and Petroleum Production (1995 Symposium) (eds. K. S. Johnson and J. A. Campbell). pp. 357-362. Oklahoma Geological Survey Circular 100.

Johnson K. S., Smith D. (1996) Ames Structure of Northwestern Oklahoma is Reflected in Overlying Permian Strata. The Shale Shaker. Volume 46, No. 6. pp. 121-123.

Koeberl C., Reimold W. U. (1996) Petrological and geochemical studies of samples from the Nicor Chestnut 18-4 drill core, Ames impact structure, Oklahoma (abstract). 27th Lunar and Planetary Science conference.  pp. 679-680.



Koeberl C., Reimold W. U., Brandt D., Dallmeyer R. D., Powell R. A. (1997) Target rocks and breccias from the Ames impact structure, Oklahoma: Petrology, mineralogy, geochemistry, and age. In Ames Structure in Northwest Oklahoma and Similar Features: Origin and Petroleum Production (1995 Symposium) (eds. K. S. Johnson and J. A. Campbell), pp. 169-198. Oklahoma Geological Survey Circular 100, Norman, Oklahoma, USA.

Koeberl C., Reimold W. U., Powell, R. A. (1994) Ames Structure, Oklahoma: An economically important impact crater (abstract #1361). Abstracts of the 25th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.

Koeberl C., Reimold W. U., Powell R. A. (1994) Shocked quartz and impact melt rock at the Ames structure, Oklahoma (abstract).  Abstracts of the 1994 Meteoritical Socaiety Annual Meeting, Meteoritics, Volume 29, No. 4, p. doi: 10.1111/j.1945-5100.1994.tb00616.x 483.

or

Koeberl C., Reimold W. U., Kelley S. P. (2001) Petrography, geochemistry, and argon-40/argon-39 ages of impact-melt rocks and breccias from the Ames impact structure, Oklahoma: The Nicor Chestnut 18-4 drill core. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, Volume 36, Issue 5, pp. 651–669. doi: 10.1111/j.1945-5100.2001.tb01907.x

Koeberl C., Reimold W. U., Dallmeyer R. D., Powell R. A.(1995) Petrology, Mineralogy, Geochemistry, and Age of Impact Melt Rocks from the AMES Structure, Oklahoma (abstract). Abstracts of the 26th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.

Kuykendall M. D., Johnson C. L. and Carlson R. A. (1997) Reservoir characteristics of a complex impact structure: Ames impact structure, Northern Shelf, Anadarko Basin. In Ames Structure in Northwest Oklahoma and Similar Features: Origin and Petroleum Production (1995 Symposium) (eds. K. S. Johnson and J. A. Campbell), pp. 199-206. Oklahoma Geological Survey Circular 100, Norman, Oklahoma, USA.

Repetski J. E. (1997) Conodont age constraints on the middle Ordovician black shale within the Ames structure, Major County, Oklahoma. In Ames Structure in Northwest Oklahoma and Similar Features: Origin and Petroleum Production (1995 Symposium) (eds. K. S. Johnson and J. A. Campbell), pp.363-369. Oklahoma Geological Survey Circular 100, Norman,Oklahoma, USA.

Roberts C. and Sandridge B. (1992) The Ames hole. Oklahoma City Geological Society Shale Shaker, Volume 42, No. 5, pp. 118-121.

Additional Links:

A page discussing the history of the crater in relation to oil and gas resource exploration and production can be found at:  

Other related publications: