I was doing a flight from Sofia to Frankfurt and then saw this thing. Idk what it is.
Lufthansa A320
I am starting to do more frequent flights inside Eurasia now.
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It could also be a lake
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I just found it interesting because it has a downward slope. I was like either a crater or ancient volcano. I may have to do geographic oddity flight now.
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If I were you I would fly from the nearest airport to the crater and do a low pass or maybe even try to land in it
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Sink hole or mining complex?
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It could be a mining hole. I should see the ones in South Africa to compare them.
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It’s going to be hard for us to figure out what it is based on the picture alone. It looks like a pond but if you want a concrete answer, let us know the nearest airport you was at when you took the picture.
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Can you tell us the nearest airport so we maybe can fly there and check
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Looks like a quarry
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Hey Kate, I believe what you found there was the “Nördlinger Ries” which is a huge meteor impact crater in Germany, situated in Donau-Ries. That flight path would have taken you quite (if not very) near that area, so there is a good chance that was it. Not 100% confirmed, but highly likely :-)
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If it’s near vienna then its the same one I saw…
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The impact happend a long time ago so the Nördlinger Ries is actually not really visible. Also there are forests all in that region so it is very unlikely that is is the crater shown.
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Yes, I just did a survey flight out of there and only saw relatively flat land.
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I took the time for some investigative Google Earth analysis: It’s a simple lake near Sofia that maybe used to be a mining hole 🙁
Boring result, but Sherlock Holmes would be proud.
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Awww ok I was hoping it was a crater of some sort. Thanks for investigating it. It does look like a mining hole that filled up with water. Interesting.
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Yes, this is an open pit mine, no longer active, where iron ores and a little bit of barite (barium sulfate mineral) were extracted over many decades. The pit was dug deeper than the water table so when mining operations ceased a permanent lake formed in the bottom of it. From Google maps it is 80-140m deep (to the lake).
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That’s a well done investigation!
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