Red Wing is 9 km (5.6 mi) in diameter, and it is buried at a depth of about 2,000 m (6,600 ft)[2]: 335  The age of the structure is estimated at 200 ± 25 million years (Triassic).

The structural disturbance is filled by thick rocks of Jurassic age, suggesting that the impact took place during the Triassic.

[2]: 336 The discovery of oil led to intense geological and geophysical studies of the Red Wing Creek area.

In 1996, Christian Koeberl and his colleagues discovered planar deformation features (PDFs) in samples from two oil wells at the center of the structure.

[2]: 335  This provided unambiguous evidence for shock metamorphism, and confirmed the impact origin of the Red Wing Creek structure.