An extended field of crater-shaped structures in the Gilf Kebir region, Egypt: Observations and hypotheses about their origin

Using satellite imagery, we detected more than 1300 small crater-like structures distributed over an area of 40,000 km2 in the Western Egyptian Desert, close to the Gilf Kebir plateau. Sixty-two of them were visited in the field, and morphological observations, rock samples and ground-penetrating radar data were obtained. After presenting our fieldwork results, we discuss two hypotheses for their origin: hydrothermal vent complexes and meteorite impacts. At present, none of them fully satisfies the available observations.