Roter Kamm () is a meteorite crater, located in the Sperrgebiet, within the Namibian section of the Namib Desert, approximately north of Oranjemund and southwest of Aurus Mountain in the ǁKaras Region. The crater is in diameter and is deep. The age is estimated at 4.81 ± 0.5 Ma, placing it in the Pliocene. The crater is exposed at the surface, but its original floor is covered by sand deposits at least thick. Description The meteorite hit a layer of Precambrian granitic gneiss that is part of the Namaqua Metamorphic Complex, overlaid with some younger sedimentary rocks. No parts of the meteorite have been found, suggesting that it completely evaporated upon impact. The meteor that hit it was approximately the size of an SUV. The Roter Kamm impact structure exposes a large volume of cataclastic/mylonitic and pseudotachylitic breccias in the basement granite and gneisses, which is unusual for small craters. Anomalous quartz found at the rim of the crater, and the primary fluid inclusions in the quartz, seem to provide evidence for post-impact hydrothermal activity, generated by impact heat, at the Roter Kamm impact crater. Eolian and alluvial processes each played a role in modifying the Roter Kamm impact crater since its formation. Much of the more recent history of crater modification relates to eolian processes. Active mobile sands largely bury the crater and effectively mask most of the signatures associated with prior activity by other processes. Ongoing eolian erosion is responsible for scouring of the exposed rim. Gallery See also List of impact craters in Africa Geology of Namibia References Bibliography Further reading Bishop, J., Koeberl, C. and Reimold, W.U., Geochemistry of the Roter Kamm impact crater, SWA/Namibia (abstract). Meteoritics, v. 24, p. 252. 1989 Blumberg, D. G., McHone, J.F., Kuzmin, R. and Greeley, R., Radar imaging of impact craters by SIR-C/X-SAR (abstract). Lunar and Planetary Science XXVI, pp. 139–140. 1995 Brandt, D., Reimold, W.U., Franzsen, A.J., Koeberl, C., Wendorff, L., Geophysical profile of the Roter Kamm impact crater, Namibia, Meteoritics & Planetary Science 33, pp. 447–453. 1998 Brandt, D., Reimold, W.U., Wendof, L., Koeberl, C. and Grant, J., Geophysical signatures of the Roter Kamm impact crater, Namibia (abstract). Lunar and Planetary Science, v. XXVII, pp. 153–154. 1996 Degenhardt, Jr,J.J., Buchanan, P.C. and Reid, A.M., Impactite and pseudotachylite from Roter Kamm crater, Namibia (abstract). International Conference on Large Meteorite Impacts and Planetary Evolution, LPI Contribution No. 790, pp. 20–21.