The Peerless structure, Daniels County, northeastern Montana: A probable late Ordovician impact structure

Abstract

The Peerless structure is an ~6 km-diameter sub-surface anomaly located in Daniels County, northeastern Montana. The disruption of sedimentary rock in the structure lies between 2624 to 2818 m below the topographic surface. Seismic mapping shows a typical complex crater composed of a central uplift ~2 km across, which shows structural uplift of up to 90 m, an annular ring ~4 km across, and an outer rim ~6 km in diameter. The youngest disrupted rock unit is the upper Ordovician Red River formation, which indicates that the structure was formed about 430450 Ma ago.