Meteoritics & Planetary Science 46, Nr 11, 1630–1639 (2011) doi: 10.1111/j.1945-5100.2011.01252.x The Coloˆnia structure, Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil Claudio RICCOMINI1, Alvaro P. CRO´ STA2*, Renato L. PRADO3, Marie-Pierre LEDRU4, Bruno J. TURCQ5, Lucy G. SANT’ANNA6, Jose´ A. FERRARI7, and W. Uwe REIMOLD8 1Institute of Geosciences, University of Sa˜o Paulo, Rua do Lago 562, 05508-080 Sa˜o Paulo, SP, Brazil 2Institute of Geosciences, University of Campinas, R. Pandia´ Calo´ geras 51, Cidade Universita´ ria Zeferino Vaz, 13081-970 Campinas, SP, Brazil 3Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Sa˜o Paulo, Rua do Mata˜o 1226, 05508-090 Sa˜o Paulo, SP, Brazil 4ISEM ⁄ Pale´ oenvironnements, CNRS UMR 5554, Universite´ de Montpellier 2, Place Euge` ne Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France 5IRD, Centre de Recherche d’Ile de France, 32 Avenue Henry Varagnat, 93143 Bondy Cedex, France 6School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities, University of Sa˜o Paulo, Av. Arlindo Be´ ttio 1000, 03828-000 Sa˜o Paulo, SP, Brazil 7Instituto Geolo´ gico do Estado de Sa˜o Paulo, Secretaria Estadual do Meio Ambiente, Av. Miguel Stefano 3900, 04301-903 Sa˜o Paulo, SP, Brazil 8Museum fu¨ r Naturkunde, Leibniz-Institiute for Evolution and Biodiversity Research, Humboldt University Berlin, Invalidenstrasse 43, D-10115 Berlin, Germany *Corresponding author. E-mail:
[email protected] (Received 14 December 2010; revision accepted 09 August 2011) Abstract–The near-circular Coloˆnia structure, located in the southern suburbs of the mega- city of Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil, has attracted the attention of geoscientists for several decades due to its anomalous character and the complete absence of any plausible endogenous geologic explanation for its formation.