impact crater phe

8/9/2019 Impact Crater Phe

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The prominent impact crater Tycho on the Moon.

Fresh impact crater on Mars showing

a prominent ray system of ejecta.

This 30 m (98 ft) diameter crater

formed between July 2010 and May

2012 (19 November 2013;

).[1]

Impact craterFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An impact crater is an approximately circular

depression in the surface of a planet, moon or other

solid body in the Solar System, formed by the

hypervelocity impact of a smaller body with the

surface. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result

from explosion or internal collapse,[2] impact craters

typically have raised rims and floors that are lower in

elevation than the surrounding terr ain.[3] Impact craters

range from small, simple, bowl-shaped depressions to

large, complex, multi-ringed impact basins. Meteor

Crater is perhaps the best-known example of a small

impact crater on the Earth.

Impact craters are the dominant geographic features onmany solid Solar System objects including the Moon,

Mercury, Callisto, Ganymede and most small moons

and asteroids. On other planets and moons that

experience mor e active sur f ace geological processes,

such as Earth, Venus, Mars, Europa, Io and Titan,

visible impact craters are less common because they

become eroded, buried or transformed by tectonics over

time. Where such processes have destroyed most of the

original crater topography, the terms impact structure or astrobleme

are more commonly used. In early literature, before the significanceof im pact cratering was widely recognised, the terms

cryptoexplosion or cryptovolcanic structure were often used to

describe what are now recognised as impact-related features on

Earth.[4]

The cratering records of very old surfaces, such as Mercury, the

Moon, and the southern highlands of Mars, record a period of

intense early bombardment in the inner Solar System around 3.9

billion years ago. Since that time, the rate of crater production on

Earth has been considerably lower, but it is appreciable nonetheless;Earth experiences from one to three impacts large enough to

produce a 20 km diameter crater about once every million years on

average.[5][6] This indicates that there should be far more relatively

oung craters on the planet than have been discovered so far. The

cratering rate in the inner solar system fluctuates as a consequence of collisions in the asteroid belt that

create a family of fragments that are often sent cascading into the inner solar system.[7] Formed in a

collision 160 million years ago, the Baptistina family of asteroids is thought to have caused a large spike in

3.7°N 53.4°E

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptoexplosionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_structurehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erosionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tectonicshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_(moon)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Io_(moon)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_(moon)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(planet)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callisto_(moon)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganymede_(moon)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_Craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_Craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervelocityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collisionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Systemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depression_(geology)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_satellitehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tycho_crater_on_the_Moon.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_systemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(planet)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_structurehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptistina_familyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervelocityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ejectahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erosionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callisto_(moon)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_(moon)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Systemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_Craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Io_(moon)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fresh_impact_crater_HiRise_2013.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depression_(geology)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_(crater)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptoexplosionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroidhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collisionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Heavy_Bombardmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tectonicshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganymede_(moon)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_(moon)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_satellitehttp://tools.wmflabs.org/geohack/geohack.php?pagename=Impact_crater&params=3.7_N_53.4_E_globe:Mars


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the impact rate, perhaps causing the Chicxulub impact that may have triggered the extinction of the

dinosaurs 66 million years ago.[7] Note that the rate of impact cratering in the outer Solar System could be

different from the inner Solar System.[8]

Although the Earth’s active surface processes quickly destroy the impact record, about 170 terrestrial

impact craters have been identified.[9] These range in diameter from a few tens of meters up to about

300 km, and they range in age from recent times (e.g. the Sikhote-Alin craters in Russia whose creation

were witnessed in 1947) to more than two billion years, though most are less than 500 million years old because geological processes tend to obliterate older craters. They are also selectively found in the stable

interior regions of continents.[10] Few undersea craters have been discovered because of the difficulty of

surveying the sea floor, the rapid rate of change of the ocean bottom, and the subduction of the ocean floor

into the Earth's interior by processes of plate tectonics.

Impact craters are not to be confused with landforms that in some cases appear similar, including calderas

and ring dikes.

Contents

1 History

2 Crater formation

2.1 Contact and compression

2.2 Excavation

2.3 Modification and collapse

3 Identifying impact craters

4 Lists of craters

4.1 Impact craters on Earth

4.2 Some extraterrestrial craters

4.3 Largest named craters in the Solar System

5 See also

6 References

7 Further reading

8 External links

History

Daniel Barringer (1860–1929) was one of the first to identify an impact crater, Meteor Crater in Arizona; t

crater specialists the site is referred to as Barringer Crater in his honor. Initially Barringer's ideas were not

widely accepted, and even when the origin of Meteor Crater was finally acknowledged, the wider

implications for impact cratering as a significant geological process on Earth were not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_Craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Paleogene_extinction_eventhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizonahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cratonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhote-Alin_Meteoritehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_impacthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subductionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calderahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barringer_Craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_dikehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_tectonicshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Barringer_(geologist)


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Eugene Shoemaker, pioneer impact

crater researcher, here at a

crystallographic microscope used to

examine meteorites

A laboratory simulation of an impact

event and crater formation

In the 1920s, the American geologist Walter H. Bucher studied a number of sites now recognized as impac

craters in the USA. He concluded they had been created by some great explosive event, but believed that

this force was probably volcanic in origin. However, in 1936, the geologists John D. Boon and Claude C.

Albritton Jr. revisited Bucher's studies and concluded that the craters that he studied were probably formed

by impacts.

The concept of impact cratering remained more or less speculative

until the 1960s. At this time a number of researchers, most notably

Eugene M. Shoemaker, (co-discoverer of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9), conducted detailed studies of a number of craters and

recognized clear evidence that they had been created by impacts,

specifically identifying the shock-metamorphic effects uniquely

associated with impact events, of which the most familiar is shocke

quartz.

Armed with the knowledge of shock-metamorphic features, Carlyle

S. Beals and colleagues at the Dominion Observatory in Victoria,

British Columbia, Canada and Wolf von Engelhardt of the

University of Tübingen in Germany began a methodical search for impact craters. By 1970, they had tentatively identified more than

50. Although their work was controversial, the American Apollo

Moon landings, which were in progress at the time, provided

supportive evidence by recognizing the rate of impact cratering on

the Moon.[11] Processes of erosion on the Moon are minimal and so

craters persist almost indefinitely. Since the Earth could be expected to have roughly the same cratering ra

as the Moon, it became clear that the Earth had suffered far more impacts than could be seen by counting

evident craters.

Crater formation

Impact cratering involves high velocity collisions between solid

objects, typically much greater than the velocity of sound in those

objects. Such hyper-velocity impacts produce physical effects such

as melting and vaporization that do not occur in familiar sub-sonic

collisions. On Earth, ignoring the slowing effects of travel through

the atmosphere, the lowest impact velocity with an object from

space is equal to the gravitational escape velocity of about 11 km/s.

The fastest impacts occur at more than 80 km/s in the "worst case"scenario which an object in a retrograde near-parabolic orbit hits

Earth. (Because kinetic energy scales as velocity squared, Earth's

gravity only contributes 1 km/s to this figure, not 11 km/s). The

median impact velocity on Earth is about 20 to 25 km/s.

Impacts at these high speeds produce shock waves in solid materials, and both impactor and the material

impacted are rapidly compressed to high density. Following initial compression, the high-density, over-

compressed region rapidly depressurizes, exploding violently, to set in train the sequence of events that

produces the impact crater. Impact-crater formation is therefore more closely analogous to cratering by hig

explosives than by mechanical displacement. Indeed, the energy density of some material involved in the

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_D._Boon_(geologist)&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria,_British_Columbiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shocked_quartzhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_von_Engelhardthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_velocityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_wavehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_M._Shoemakerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_H._Bucherhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compression_(physical)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_T%C3%BCbingenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlyle_S._Bealshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Claude_C._Albritton_Jr.&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medianhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_metamorphismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eugene_Shoemaker.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoemaker-Levy_9http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_densityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explosive_materialhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_Observatoryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_soundhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meltinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_program


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Herschel Crater on Saturn's moon

Mimas

Contact, compression, decompression, and the passage of the shock wave all occur within a few tenths of a

second for a large impact. The subsequent excavation of the crater occurs more slowly, and during this

stage the flow of material is largely sub-sonic. During excavation, the crater grows as the accelerated targe

material moves away from the impact point. The target's motion is initially downwards and outwards, but i

becomes outwards and upwards. The flow initially produces an approximately hemispherical cavity. The

cavity continues to grow, eventually producing a paraboloid (bowl-shaped) crater in which the centre has

been pushed down, a significant volume of material has been ejected, and a topographically elevated crate

rim has been pushed up. When this cavity has reached its maximum size, it is called the transient cavity.

[12

The depth of the transient cavity is typically a quarter to a third of

its diameter. Ejecta thrown out of the crater do not include material

excavated from the full depth of the transient cavity; typically the

depth of maximum excavation is only about a third of the total

depth. As a result, about one third of the volume of the transient

crater is formed by the ejection of material, and the remaining two

thirds is formed by the displacement of material downwards,

outwards and upwards, to form the elevated rim. For impacts into

highly porous materials, a significant crater volume may also be

formed by the permanent compaction of the pore space. Such

compaction craters may be important on many asteroids, comets and

small moons.

In large impacts, as well as material displaced and ejected to form

the crater, significant volumes of target material may be melted and

vaporized together with the original impactor. Some of this impact

melt rock may be ejected, but most of it remains within the transient crater, initially forming a layer of

impact melt coating the interior of the transient cavity. In contrast, the hot dense vaporized material

expands rapidly out of the growing cavity, carrying some solid and molten material within it as it does so.

As this hot vapor cloud expands, it rises and cools much like the archetypal mushroom cloud generated bylarge nuclear explosions. In large impacts, the expanding vapor cloud may rise to many times the scale

height of the atmosphere, effectively expanding into free space.

Most material ejected from the crater is deposited within a few crater radii, but a small fraction may travel

large distances at high velocity, and in large impacts it may exceed escape velocity and leave the impacted

planet or moon entirely. The majority of the fastest material is ejected from close to the center of impact,

and the slowest material is ejected close to the rim at low velocities to form an overturned coherent flap of

ejecta immediately outside the rim. As ejecta escapes from the growing crater, it forms an expanding

curtain in the shape of an inverted cone; the trajectory of individual particles within the curtain is thought t

be largely ballistic.

Small volumes of un-melted and relatively un-shocked material may be spalled at very high relative

velocities from the surface of the target and from the rear of the impactor. Spalling provides a potential

mechanism whereby material may be ejected into inter-planetary space largely undamaged, and whereby

small volumes of the impactor may be preserved undamaged even in large impacts. Small volumes of high

speed material may also be generated early in the impact by jetting. This occurs when two surfaces

converge rapidly and obliquely at a small angle, and high-temperature highly shocked material is expelled

from the convergence zone with velocities that may be several times larger than the impact velocity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschel_(Mimantean_crater)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pore_spacehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ejectahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mimas_moon.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_velocityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraboloidhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimas_(moon)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spall


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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.

Multi-ringed impact basin Valhalla

on Jupiter's moon Callisto

Modification and collapse

In most circumstances, the transient cavity is not stable: it collapses

under gravity. In small craters, less than about 4 km diameter on

Earth, there is some limited collapse of the crater rim coupled with

debris sliding down the crater walls and drainage of impact melts

into the deeper cavity. The resultant structure is called a simple

crater, and it remains bowl-shaped and superficially similar to the

transient crater. In simple craters, the original excavation cavity is

overlain by a lens of collapse breccia, ejecta and melt rock, and a

portion of the central crater floor may sometimes be flat.

Above a certain threshold

size, which varies with

planetary gravity, the

collapse and modification of

the transient cavity is much

more extensive, and the

resulting structure is called a

complex crater. The collapse of the transient cavity is driven by

gravity, and involves both the uplift of the central region and the

inward collapse of the rim. The central uplift is not the result of

elastic rebound , which is a process in which a material with elastic

strength attempts to return to its original geometry; rather the collapse is a process in which a material with

little or no strength attempts to return to a state of gravitational equilibrium.

Complex craters have uplifted centers, and they have typically broad flat shallow crater floors, and terraced

walls. At the largest sizes, one or more exterior or interior rings may appear, and the structure may be

labeled an impact basin rather than an impact crater. Complex-crater morphology on rocky planets appearto follow a regular sequence with increasing size: small complex craters with a central topographic peak ar

called central peak craters, for example Tycho; intermediate-sized craters, in which the central peak is

replaced by a ring of peaks, are called peak-ring craters, for example Schrödinger; and the largest craters

contain multiple concentric topographic rings, and are called multi-ringed basins, for example Orientale.

On icy as opposed to rocky bodies, other morphological forms appear which may have central pits rather

than central peaks, and at the largest sizes may contain very many concentric rings – Valhalla on Callisto i

the type example of the latter.

Identifying impact cratersSome volcanic features can resemble impact craters, and brecciated rocks are associated with other

geological formations besides impact craters. Non-explosive volcanic craters can usually be distinguished

from impact craters by their irregular shape and the association of volcanic flows and other volcanic

materials. Impact craters produce melted rocks as well, but usually in smaller volumes with different

characteristics.

The distinctive mark of an impact crater is the presence of rock that has undergone shock-metamorphic

effects, such as shatter cones, melted rocks, and crystal deformations. The problem is that these materials

tend to be deeply buried, at least for simple craters. They tend to be revealed in the uplifted center of a

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callisto_(moon)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brecciahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brecciahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schrodinger_(crater)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Valhalla_crater_on_Callisto.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedimenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_orientalehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatter_conehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erosionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Conical_mound_in_trough_on_Mars%27_north_pole.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valhalla_(crater)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clastic_rockshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_(crater)


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Impact crater structure

Barringer Crater (a.k.a. Meteor

Crater) in Arizona was the world's

first confirmed impact crater

Shoemaker Crater (formerly Teague

Ring) in Western Australia was

renamed in memory of Gene

Shoemaker.

complex crater, however.

Impacts produce distinctive shock-metamorphic effects that allow impact sites to be distinctively identified

Such shock-metamorphic effects can include:

A layer of shattered or "brecciated" rock under the floor of the crater. This layer is called a "breccia

lens".

Shatter cones, which are chevron-shaped impressions inrocks. Such cones are formed most easily in fine-grained

rocks.

High-temperature rock types, including laminated and welded

blocks of sand, spherulites and tektites, or glassy spatters of

molten rock. The impact origin of tektites has been questioned

by some researchers; they have observed some volcanic

features in tektites not found in impactites. Tektites are also

drier (contain less water) than typical impactites. While rocks

melted by the impact resemble volcanic rocks, they

incorporate unmelted fragments of bedrock, form unusually

large and unbroken fields, and have a much more mixed

chemical composition than volcanic materials spewed up from

within the Earth. They also may have relatively large amounts

of trace elements that are associated with meteorites, such as

nickel, platinum, iridium, and cobalt. Note: scientific

literature has reported that some "shock" features, such as

small shatter cones, which are often associated only with

impact events, have been found also in terrestrial volcanic

ejecta.

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

stishovite and coesite, varieties of shocked quartz.

Buried craters can be identified through drill coring, aerial

electromagnetic resistivity imaging, and airborne gravity

gradiometry.[15]

Lists of craters

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shoemaker_Impact_Structure,_Western_Australia.JPGhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_metamorphismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Craterstructure.gifhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shocked_quartzhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherulitehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatter_conehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stishovitehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tektitehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brecciahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Barringer_Crater_USGS.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coesite


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Close-up of shatter cones developed

in fine grained dolomite from the

Wells Creek crater, USA.

U.S. Geological Survey aerial

electromagnetic resistivity map of the

Decorah crater.

Impact craters on Earth

On Earth, the recognition of impact craters is a branch of geology, as opposed to astronomy on other

worlds. Out of many proposed craters, relatively few are confirmed. The following are a sample of articles

of confirmed and well-documented impact sites.

List of impact craters on Earth

List of craters on Mercury

List of craters on the Moon

List of craters on Mars

List of craters on Venus

List of geological features on Phobos

List of geological features on Jupiter's smaller moons

List of craters on Europa

List of craters on Ganymede

List of craters on Callisto

List of geological features on Saturn's smaller moons

List of geological features on Mimas

List of geological features on Enceladus

List of geological features on TethysList of geological features on Dione

List of geological features on Rhea

List of geological features on Iapetus

List of geological features on Puck

List of geological features on Miranda

List of geological features on Ariel

List of craters on Umbriel

List of geological features on Titania

List of geological features on Oberon

List of craters on Triton

Barringer Crater, a.k.a. Meteor Crater (Arizona, USA)

Chesapeake Bay impact crater (Virginia, USA)

Chicxulub, Extinction Event Crater (Mexico)

Clearwater Lakes (Quebec, Canada)

Gosses Bluff crater (Northern Territory, Australia)

Haughton impact crater (Nunavut, Canada)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearwater_Lakeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_craters_on_the_Moonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_geological_features_on_Enceladushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gosses_Bluff_craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_Craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Geological_Surveyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_craters_on_Europahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decorah_craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wells_Creek_craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_craters_on_Ganymedehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_geological_features_on_Saturn%27s_smaller_moonshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_geological_features_on_Dionehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_geological_features_on_Rheahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_geological_features_on_Jupiter%27s_smaller_moonshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wells_creek_shatter_cones_2.JPGhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_geological_features_on_Tethyshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_geological_features_on_Oberonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_Bay_impact_craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_craters_on_Marshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_geological_features_on_Puckhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_craters_on_Umbrielhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_geological_features_on_Iapetushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haughton_impact_craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolomitehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_geological_features_on_Arielhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_geological_features_on_Mimashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_craters_on_Callistohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_craters_on_Tritonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_impact_craters_on_Earthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_geological_features_on_Mirandahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barringer_Craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_craters_on_Venushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobos_(moon)#Named_geological_featureshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_geological_features_on_Titaniahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USGS_Decorah_crater.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_craters_on_Mercury


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Unnamed crater in Caloris Basin, photographed by MESSENGER,

2011

See the Earth Impact Database,[16] a website concerned with over 170 scientifically-confirmed impact

craters on Earth.

Some extraterrestrial craters

Caloris Basin (Mercury)

Hellas Basin (Mars)

Mare Orientale (Moon)

Petrarch crater (Mercury)

Skinakas Basin (Mercury)

South Pole – Aitken basin (Moon)

Herschel crater (Mimas)

Largest named craters in the Solar System

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

4. Caloris Basin - Mercury - Diameter: 1,550 km

Kaali crater (Estonia)

Karakul crater (Tajikistan)

Lonar crater (India)

Manicouagan crater (Quebec, Canada)

Manson crater (Iowa, USA)

Mistastin crater (Labrador, Canada)

Nördlinger Ries (Germany)

Pingualuit crater (Quebec, Canada)

Popigai crater, (Siberia, Russia)

Shoemaker crater (Western Australia, Australia)

The Siljan Ring (Sweden)

Sudbury Basin (Ontario, Canada)

Vredefort crater (South Africa)

Wolfe Creek Crater (Western Australia, Australia)Lake Tai (Jiangsu, China)

Upheaval Dome (Utah, USA)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Impact_Databasehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caloris_Basinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Unnamed_crater_in_Caloris_Basin.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pole_%E2%80%93_Aitken_basinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellas_Basinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Taihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschel_(Mimantean_crater)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoemaker_craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MESSENGERhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vredefort_craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistastin_craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinakas_Basinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caloris_Basinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Polar_Basin_(Mars)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudbury_Basinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upheaval_Domehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrarch_craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonar_craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakul_(Tajikistan)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pole-Aitken_basinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Siljanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellas_Basinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manson_craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfe_Creek_Craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manicouagan_craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pingualuit_craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_Orientalehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popigai_craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaali_craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%B6rdlinger_Ries


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Tirawa crater straddling the

terminator on Rhea, lower right.

5. Imbrium Basin - Moon - Diameter: 1,100 km

6. Isidis Planitia - Mars - Diameter: 1,100 km

7. Mare Tranquilitatis - Moon - Diameter: 870 km

8. Argyre Planitia - Mars - Diameter: 800 km

9. Rembrandt – Mercury – Diameter: 715 km

10. Serenitatis Basin - Moon - Diameter: 700 km

11. Mare Nubium - Moon - Diameter: 700 km

12. Beethoven - Mercury - Diameter: 625 km

13. Valhalla - Callisto - Diameter: 600 km, with rings to 4,000 km

diameter

14. Hertzsprung - Moon - Diameter: 590 km

15. Turgis - Iapetus - Diameter: 580 km

16. Apollo - Moon - Diameter: 540 km

17. Engelier - Iapetus - Diameter: 504 km18. Mamaldi - Rhea - Diameter: 480 km

19. Huygens - Mars - Diameter: 470 km

20. Schiaparelli - Mars - Diameter: 470 km

21. Rheasilvia - 4 Vesta - Diameter: 460 km

22. Gerin - Iapetus - Diameter: 445 km

23. Odysseus - Tethys - Diameter: 445 km

24. Korolev - Moon - Diameter: 430 km

25. Falsaron - Iapetus - Diameter: 424 km

26. Dostoevskij - Mercury - Diameter: 400 km

27. Menrva - Titan - Diameter: 392 km

28. Tolstoj - Mercury - Diameter: 390 km

29. Goethe - Mercury - Diameter: 380 km

30. Malprimis - Iapetus - Diameter: 377 km

31. Tirawa - Rhea - Diameter: 360 km

32. Orientale Basin - Moon - Diameter: 350 km, with rings to 930 km diameter

33. Evander - Dione - Diameter: 350 km

34. Epigeus - Ganymede - Diameter: 343 km

35. Gertrude - Titania - Diameter: 326 km

36. Telemus - Tethys - Diameter: 320 km

37. Asgard - Callisto - Diameter: 300 km, with rings to 1,400 km diameter

38. Vredefort crater - Earth - Diameter: 300 km

39. Powehiwehi - Rhea - Diameter: 271 km

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mamaldi_(crater)&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valhalla_(crater)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhea_(moon)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Evander_(crater)&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gerin_(crater)&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korolev_(lunar_crater)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_(crater)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dostoevskij_(crater)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirawa_(crater)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Engelier_(crater)&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Malprimis_(crater)&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_Tranquilitatishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schiaparelli_(Martian_crater)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolstoj_(crater)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asgard_(crater)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huygens_(crater)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirawa_(crater)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminator_(solar)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt_(crater)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_Orientalehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Epigeus_(crater)&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_Imbriumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_Nubiumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_(crater)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertzsprung_(crater)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vredefort_craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goethe_(crater)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Falsaron_(crater)&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PIA09819_Tirawa_basin.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_Serenitatishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheasilviahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isidis_Planitiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Menrva_(crater)&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyre_Planitiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beethoven_(crater)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odysseus_(crater)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Telemus_(crater)&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turgis_(crater)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Powehiwehi_(crater)&action=edit&redlink=1


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40. Mead - Venus - Diameter: 270 km

There are approximately twelve more impact craters/basins larger than 300 km on the Moon, five on

Mercury, and four on Mars.[17] Large basins, some unnamed but mostly smaller than 300 km, can also be

found on Saturn's moons Dione, Rhea and Iapetus.

See also

Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event

Impact depth

Impact event

Nemesis (hypothetical star)

Peter H. Schultz

Rampart crater

Ray system

Traces of Catastrophe book from Lunar and Planetary Institute - comprehensive reference on impact

crater science

References

1. Spectacular new Martian impact crater spotted from orbit (http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/02/spectacular-

new-martian-impact-crater-spotted-from-orbit/), Ars Technica, Feb 6 2014.

2. Basaltic Volcanism Study Project. (1981). Basaltic Volcanism on the Terrestrial Planets; Pergamon Press, Inc:

New York, p. 746. http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/book/bvtp./1981//0000746.000.html.

3. Consolmagno, G.J.; Schaefer, M.W. (1994). Worlds Apart: A Textbook in Planetary Sciences; Prentice Hall:

Englewood Cliffs, NJ, p.56.

4. French, B.M. (1998). Traces of Catastrophe: A Handbook of Shock-Metamorphic Effects in Terrestrial

Meteorite Impact Structures; Simthsonian Institution: Washington DC, p. 97.

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/books/CB-954/CB-954.intro.html.

5. Carr, M.H. (2006) The surface of Mars; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, p. 23.

6. Grieve R.A.; Shoemaker, E.M. (1994). The Record of Past Impacts on Earth in Hazards due to Comets and

Asteroids, T. Gehrels, Ed.; University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ, pp. 417-464.

7. Bottke, WF; Vokrouhlický D Nesvorný D. (2007). "An asteroid breakup 160 Myr ago as the probable source of

the K/T impactor". Nature 449 (7158): 48–53. Bibcode:2007Natur.449...48B

(http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007Natur.449...48B). doi:10.1038/nature06070

(https://dx.doi.org/10.1038%2Fnature06070). PMID 17805288

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17805288).

8. K. Zahnle et al., Cratering rates in the outer Solar System. Icarus 163, 263 (2003)

9. Grieve, R.A.F.; Cintala, M.J.; Tagle, R. (2007). Planetary Impacts in Encyclopedia of the Solar System, 2nd ed

L-A. McFadden et al. Eds, p. 826.

10. Shoemaker E.M. Shoemaker C.S. 1999 . The Role of Collisions in The New Solar S stem 4th ed. J.K.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_systemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead_(crater)http://dx.doi.org/10.1038%2Fnature06070http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PubMed_Identifierhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traces_of_Catastrophehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traces_of_Catastrophehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_eventhttp://arstechnica.com/science/2014/02/spectacular-new-martian-impact-crater-spotted-from-orbit/http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007Natur.449...48Bhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_H._Schultzhttp://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/book/bvtp./1981//0000746.000.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_and_Planetary_Institutehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ars_Technicahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibcodehttp://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/books/CB-954/CB-954.intro.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Paleogene_extinction_eventhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_object_identifierhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17805288http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_(hypothetical_star)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rampart_craterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_depth


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Wikimedia Commons has

media related to Impact

craters.

Charles A. Wood and Leif Andersson, New Morphometric Data for Fresh Lunar Craters

(http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/LPSC./0009//0003669.000.html), 1978, Proceedings 9th Lunar and Planet.

Sci. Conf.

Bond, J. W., "The development of central peaks in lunar craters", Earth, Moon, and Planets, vol. 25, December

1981.

Melosh, H.J., 1989, Impact cratering: A geologic process: New York, Oxford University Press, 245 p.

Baier, J., Die Auswurfprodukte des Ries-Impakts, Deutschland , in Documenta Naturae, Vol. 162, 2007. ISBN

978-3-86544-162-1

Further reading

Mark, Kathleen (1987). Meteorite Craters. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 0-8165-0902-6.

External links

The Geological Survey of Canada Crater database, 172 impact

structures (http://www.unb.ca/passc/ImpactDatabase/)

Aerial Explorations of Terrestrial Meteorite Craters

(http://www.ottawa.rasc.ca/articles/odale_chuck/earth_craters/index.html)

Impact Meteor Crater Viewer (http://impact.scaredycatfilms.com/) Google Maps Page with Location

of Meteor Craters around the world

Solarviews: Terrestrial Impact Craters (http://www.solarviews.com/eng/tercrate.htm)

Lunar and Planetary Institute slidshow: contains pictures

(http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/slidesets/craters/)

Vepriai impact crater (http://www.krateris.eu/)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Impact_crater&oldid=649701339"

Beatty et al., Eds., p. 73.

11. Grieve, R.A.F. (1990) Impact Cratering on the Earth. Scientific American, April 1990, p. 66.

12. Melosh, H.J., 1989, Impact cratering: A geologic process: New York, Oxford University Press, 245 p.

13. 'Key to Giant Space Sponge Revealed' (http://www.space.com/4028-key-giant-space-sponge-revealed.html),

Space.com, 4 July 2007

14. Nested CratersESP_027610_2205 (http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_027610_2205) at HiRISE Operations Cente

University of Arizona15. US Geological Survey. "Iowa Meteorite Crater Confirmed" (http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?

ID=3521). Retrieved 7 March 2013.

16. Impact Cratering on Earth (http://www.unb.ca/passc/ImpactDatabase/essay.html)

17. USGS Astrogeology: Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature (http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/)

http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/LPSC./0009//0003669.000.htmlhttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Impact_cratershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-8165-0902-6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9783865441621http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3521http://www.space.com/4028-key-giant-space-sponge-revealed.htmlhttp://www.krateris.eu/http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_027610_2205http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Arizonahttp://impact.scaredycatfilms.com/http://www.unb.ca/passc/ImpactDatabase/essay.htmlhttp://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Numberhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Impact_crater&oldid=649701339http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/slidesets/craters/http://www.ottawa.rasc.ca/articles/odale_chuck/earth_craters/index.htmlhttp://www.unb.ca/passc/ImpactDatabase/http://www.solarviews.com/eng/tercrate.htm


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Categories: Impact craters Impact geology Lunar science Depressions (geology)

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