The Santa Fe impact structure is the deeply eroded remains of an ancient meteor impact in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains northeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Erosion removed the original crater shape, exposing only basement rocks at the surface, so it is identified as an impact structure rather than a crater. Its presence was recognized in 2005 after a geologist found shatter cones in an older road cut along New Mexico State Road 475. Because shatter cones form only under extreme shock from a meteor impact or nuclear explosion, they confirmed the site’s origin. The impact occurred an estimated 1.4 to 1.6 billion years ago, and the original crater was roughly 6 to 13 kilometers wide.