Mousso structure: A deeply eroded, medium-sized, complex impact crater in northern Chad?

Abstract

The Mousso structure, a complex, ∼3.8 km circular structure centred on 17°58′ N/19°53′ E and located near the Mousso oasis, Borkou–Ennedi–Tibesti, northern Chad, displays structural features typical for complex impact structures: a circular rim with concentric faults, an annular basin, and a central peak. Remote sensing investigations based on Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) data reveal a specific morphological–structural resemblance of the complex central peak of the Mousso structure to the central uplift of the Spider impact structure, Western Australia, and, to some degree, to the central uplifts of the Upheaval Dome, Sierra Madera, and Gosses Bluff impact structures. This is consistent with the layered sedimentary rocks associated with all of these structures. No endogenic geological processes such as magmatism, diapirism, karst dissolution, and glacial or fluvial erosion can conclusively explain the formation of the Mousso structure within a large area of flat-lying early Paleozoic sandstones. Thus, this paper proposes that the Mousso structure might represent a deeply eroded, medium-sized, complex impact structure. As field investigations are currently impossible due to the civil war in Chad, the search for shock-metamorphic effects in rocks of the Mousso structure remains outstanding.