Impact crater facts for kids

The prominent impact crater Tycho on the Moon. NASA photo.

Impact crater structure

Position of supposed Wilkes Land crater

Shocked breccia from the Azuara impact structure, Spain.

Close-up of shatter cones developed in fine grained dolomite from the Wells Creek crater, USA.

Impact craters are formed by meteorites or comets striking the Earth or other solid body. There is a system for recording and assessing craters.

Largest craters on Earth

The five largest confirmed impact structures are:

1. Vredefort crater, South Africa: 160 km diameter, 2023 million years ago.
2. Chicxulub crater, Mexico: 150 km diameter, 65 million years ago.
3. Sudbury Basin, Ontario, Canada: 130 km diameter, 1850 million years ago.
4. Popigai crater, Russia: 90 km diameter, 35.7 million years ago.
5. Acraman crater, 90 km diameter, South Australia, ~590 mya.
6. Manicouagan crater, Quebec, Canada: 70 km diameter, 214 million years ago.

There are some other suggested impact structures which are larger. It is a feature of the Earth that climate, weathering and plate tectonics removes most of the older features and events. In comparison, the Moon retains a nearly complete record of its past impact events. The implication is that the Earth once suffered a similar bombardment in its early history. This period is known as the Late Heavy Bombardment, because it occurred after the Earth and Moon formed.

Largest unconfirmed craters

Any of these may or may not be meteorite craters:

1. Australian impact structure: Northern Territory, Australia: multiple rings 600 km, 545 million years ago at the Neoproterozoic/Cambrian boundary.
2. Shiva crater, Indian Ocean, west of India: ~600 km length, 400 km width, 65 million years ago. Obviously this is of high interest, because of the date.
3. Wilkes Land crater, Antarctica: 485 km. 250–500 mya.
4. Nastapoka arc, Nunavut/Quebec, Canada: 450 km. unknown
5. Ishim impact structure, Kazakhstan: 300 km. 430–460 mya.
6. Bedout, off-shore of Western Australia: 250 km, 250 mya.
7. East Warburton Basin, Southern Australia: 200+ km, 300–360 mya.

Largest named craters in the Solar System

Tirawa crater straddling the terminator on Rhea, lower right.

1. North Polar Basin/Borealis Basin (disputed) – Mars – Diameter: 10,600 km
2. South Pole–Aitken basin – Moon – Diameter: 2,500 km
3. Hellas Basin – Mars – Diameter: 2,100 km

1. Caloris Basin – Mercury – Diameter: 1,550 km
2. Imbrium Basin – Moon – Diameter: 1,100 km

Identifying impact craters

The distinctive mark of an impact crater is the presence of rock which has undergone shock-metamorphic effects, shattered or melted rocks, and crystal deformations. Examples:

• A layer of shattered rock under the floor of the crater. This layer is called a 'breccia lens'.
• Shatter cones, which are chevron-shaped impressions in rocks. Such cones are formed most easily in fine-grained rocks.
• High-temperature rock types, including laminated and welded blocks of sand, tektites, or glassy spatters of molten rock. They may have relatively large amounts of trace elements that are associated with meteorites, such as nickel, platinum, iridium, and cobalt.
• Microscopic pressure deformations of minerals. These include fracture patterns in crystals of quartz and feldspar, and formation of high-pressure materials such as diamond, derived from graphite and other carbon compounds, or varieties of shocked quartz.

Images for kids

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  Eugene Shoemaker, pioneer impact crater researcher, here at a crystallographic microscope used to examine meteorites

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  Nested Craters on Mars, 40.104° N, 125.005° E. These nested craters are probably caused by changes in the strength of the target material. This usually happens when a weaker material overlies a stronger material.

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  Herschel Crater on Saturn's moon Mimas

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  Weathering may change the aspect of a crater drastically. This mound on Mars' north pole may be the result of an impact crater that was buried by sediment and subsequently re-exposed by erosion.

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  Multi-ringed impact basin Valhalla on Jupiter's moon Callisto

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  Decorah crater: aerial electromagnetic resistivity map (USGS)

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  Meteor Crater in the U.S. state of Arizona, was the world's first confirmed impact crater.

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  Shoemaker Crater in Western Australia was renamed in memory of Gene Shoemaker.

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  Balanchine crater in Caloris Basin, photographed by MESSENGER, 2011

See also

In Spanish: Cráter de impacto para niños