HaMakhtesh HaKatan

HaMakhtesh HaKatan, meaning the Small Crater, is a makhtesh in Israel's Negev desert in the Southern District, the third largest of the five makhteshim there out of seven known worldwide, measuring about 8 kilometers long, 6 kilometers wide and roughly 400 meters deep. It formed in stages: sandstone accumulated on land, then limestone and dolomite were laid down over it when the Tethys Sea flooded the area, folding around 90 million years ago raised the layers into anticlines over some 40 million years, and after the sea withdrew about 30 million years ago weathering stripped away the resistant limestone caprock. The stream Nahal Hatira then rapidly eroded the exposed softer sandstone beneath, undermining the overlying limestone until it collapsed inward to leave the crater's steep vertical walls.