Nördlinger Ries
The Nördlinger Ries is a large impact crater in western Bavaria and eastern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It sits north of the Danube, with the city of Nördlingen inside the crater. The name Ries comes from the Raetian people who lived in the area long ago. The crater formed about 14.8 million years ago when a big meteorite hit the ground. The original rim was about 24 kilometers across, and today the floor lies about 100–150 meters below the rim.
In 1960, scientists showed it was caused by a meteorite impact, not volcanic or tectonic activity. They found coesite, a high‑pressure mineral formed by shocks from impacts, in rocks nearby. Ries is a rampart crater, a rare type where surrounding material flows like a muddy wave after the impact.
Nearby lies the much smaller Steinheim crater, about 3.8 kilometers wide. It is now thought Steinheim formed about 0.5 million years after Ries. Computer models suggest the two meteorites were about 1.5 kilometers (Ries) and 150 meters (Steinheim) wide, struck from west-southwest to east-northeast at a shallow angle, and traveled at about 20 kilometers per second. The explosion released energy roughly equal to 40 million Hiroshima bombs.
The impact melted rocks and created moldavite tektites found far away in what is now the Czech Republic. The local rocks also produced millions of tiny diamonds used in building stone around the area. At the edge of the crater are the Ofnet Caves, where Mesolithic skulls were found. The Ries area is famous in history for the Battle of the Ries in 841.
Because the crater is large and well preserved, it has become a useful site for studying craters on the Moon and was a training ground for Apollo 14 astronauts in 1970, helping them learn how to explore impact rocks on the Moon.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 05:17 (CET).