Oasis crater

{{Short description|Impact crater in Libya}}

{{Infobox terrestrial impact site

| name = Oasis crater

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| photo = Oasis crater.jpg

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| photo_caption = Landsat image of the Oasis crater; screen capture from NASA World Wind

| map = Libya

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| confidence = Confirmed

| diameter = {{convert|18|km}}

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| age = <120 Ma

| exposed = Yes

| drilled = No

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| country = Libya

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Oasis is a meteorite crater in Libya. The crater is exposed at the surface, and has been significantly eroded. The prominent topographic ring is only the central uplift, which is about {{convert|5.2|km}} in diameter, while the original crater rim is estimated to have been {{convert|18|km}} in diameter. The age is estimated to be less than 120 million years (Lower Cretaceous).{{cite Earth Impact DB | name = Oasis| accessdate = 2009-08-16}}

The Oasis crater was photographed from space during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, and was recognized as a "possible astrobleme" at the time.Apollo-Soyuz Test Project Preliminary Science Report. NASA TM X- 58173. Feb. 1976. The crater had been recognized prior to this in 1969 by A. J. Martin.Martin, A. Possible Impact Structure in Southern Cyrenaica, Libya. Nature 223, 940–941 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1038/223940a0 French et al. state that Oasis crater and the smaller BP Structure, about {{cvt|88|km}} to the north, were probably simultaneous impacts.BEVAN M. FRENCH, JAMES R. UNDERWOOD, EDWARD P. FISK; Shock-Metamorphic Features in Two Meteorite Impact Structures, Southeastern Libya. GSA Bulletin 1974;; 85 (9): 1425–1428. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1974)85<1425:SFITMI>2.0.CO;2 Both impacts deform the Nubian Sandstone of early Cretaceous age.

About {{cvt|355|km}} to the southeast in Egypt is the much younger Kamil Crater.

File:Oasis crater AST-16-1244.jpg|Part of AST image AST-16-1244 showing the crater at center (1975)

Image:Oasis crater x5.jpg|Oblique Landsat image of Oasis crater draped over digital elevation model (x5 vertical exaggeration); screen capture from NASA World Wind