Kondyor Massif, Russia

This is neither an impact crater nor a volcano. It is a perfect circular intrusion, about 10 km in diameter with a topographic ridge up to 600 m high. The Kondyor Massif is located in Eastern Siberia, Russia, north of the city of Khabarovsk. It is a rare form of igneous intrusion called alkaline-ultrabasic massif and it is full of rare minerals. The river flowing out of it forms placer mineral deposits. Last year 4 tons of platinum were mined there. A remarkable and very unusual mineralogical feature of the deposit is the presence of coarse crystals of Pt-Fe alloy, coated with gold. This 3-D perspective view was created by draping a simulated natural color ASTER composite over an ASTER-derived digital elevation model. The image was acquired on June 10, 2006, and is located at 57.6 degrees north latitude, 134.6 degrees east longitude.

Credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

Read more: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10624

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