Qualla: Wetumpka Crater https://qualla.com/wetumpka-crater en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:13 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/f/8/wetumpka-crater-wp/wetumpka-impact-crater-in-wetu.jpg Qualla: Wetumpka Crater https://qualla.com/wetumpka-crater Wetumpka Crater: Introduction https://qualla.com/wetumpka-crater/ Photo credit Alabamadem, CC BY-SA 4.0. For millions of years, the people of Wetumpka, Alabama, lived inside an impact crater and had no idea. The hills that ring the eastern side of town -- the ones locals drove past on their way to work, picnicked on, built houses on -- are the remnants of a rim blasted into existence 83 million years ago when a rock roughly 1,250 feet across slammed into a shallow sea at a speed and angle that released energy 175,000 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. The crater it carved stretches 4.7 miles across. It is the only confirmed impact crater in Alabama and one of the best-preserved marine-target craters on Earth. It hid in plain sight until 1969.

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Image: Alabamadem | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/f/8/wetumpka-crater-wp/djf8-wetumpka-crater-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Wetumpka Crater: The Day the Sea Exploded https://qualla.com/wetumpka-crater/ Photo credit Alabamadem, CC BY-SA 4.0. Eighty-three million years ago, during the late Cretaceous period, much of central and southern Alabama lay beneath the warm, shallow waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Dinosaurs roamed the nearby coastline. The sea here was roughly 100 feet deep, and the impact site sat abou...

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Image: Alabamadem | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/f/8/wetumpka-crater-wp/djf8-wetumpka-crater-the-day-the-sea-exploded.mp3 0:06 2 full Wetumpka Crater: Hidden in the Hills https://qualla.com/wetumpka-crater/ Photo credit Alabamadem, CC BY-SA 4.0. Thornton L. Neathery, a geologist with the Geological Survey of Alabama, was the first to suspect the truth. During regional geological mapping in 1969 and 1970, he noticed the unusual circular arrangement of rock formations east of Wetumpka. He published his findings in 1976, pr...

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Image: Alabamadem | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/f/8/wetumpka-crater-wp/djf8-wetumpka-crater-hidden-in-the-hills.mp3 0:06 3 full Wetumpka Crater: Proof in the Rock https://qualla.com/wetumpka-crater/ Photo credit Alabamadem, CC BY-SA 4.0. The drilling operation went 630 feet deep into the crater's center. Analysis of the core samples, including geochemical testing conducted in Vienna, Austria, revealed telltale signatures: elevated levels of iridium, cobalt, nickel, and chromium -- elements associated with extrate...

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Image: Alabamadem | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/f/8/wetumpka-crater-wp/djf8-wetumpka-crater-proof-in-the-rock.mp3 0:06 4 full Wetumpka Crater: A Crater You Can Walk https://qualla.com/wetumpka-crater/ Photo credit Alabamadem, CC BY-SA 4.0. Unlike the great impact craters of the Canadian Shield or the Australian outback, the Wetumpka crater does not look like a crater from ground level. The rim forms a gentle arc of wooded hills. The interior is a broad, flat basin where the town of Wetumpka has spread. The Coosa Ri...

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Image: Alabamadem | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/f/8/wetumpka-crater-wp/djf8-wetumpka-crater-a-crater-you-can-walk.mp3 0:06 5 full