List of impact structures on Earth explained

This list of impact structures on Earth contains a selection of the 190 confirmed craters given in the Earth Impact Database as of 2017.[1]

To keep the lists manageable, only the largest impact structures within a time period are included. Alphabetical lists for different continents can be found under Impact structures by continent below.

Confirmed impact structures listed by size and age

These features were caused by the collision of meteors (consisting of large fragments of asteroids) or comets (consisting of ice, dust particles and rocky fragments) with the Earth. For eroded or buried craters, the stated diameter typically refers to the best available estimate of the original rim diameter, and may not correspond to present surface features. Time units are either in ka (thousands) or Ma (millions) of years.

10 ka or less

Less than ten thousand years old, and with a diameter of or more. The EID lists fewer than ten such craters, and the largest in the last 100,000 years (100 ka) is the Rio Cuarto crater in Argentina.[2] However, there is some uncertainty regarding its origins[3] and age, with some sources giving it as < 10 ka while the EID gives a broader < 100 ka.

The Kaali impacts during the Nordic Bronze Age may have influenced Estonian and Finnish mythology,[4] the Campo del Cielo could be in the legends of some Native American tribes,[5] [6] while Henbury has figured in Australian Aboriginal oral traditions.[7]

NameLocationCountryDiameter
(km)
Age
(ka)
DateCoordinates
WabarRub' al Khali desertSaudi Arabia0.10.221.5°N 78°W
WhitecourtAlbertaCanada0.041.1
KaaliSaaremaaEstonia0.13.558.4°N 62°W
Campo del CieloChacoArgentina0.14.5-27.6333°N -103°W
HenburyNorthern TerritoryAustralia0.24.7-24.5667°N 141°W
MoraskoPoznańPoland0.15.0[8] 52.4833°N 70°W
BoxholeNorthern TerritoryAustralia0.25.4
IlumetsaPõlva CountyEstonia0.086.6
MachaSakha RepublicRussia0.37.360.1°N 152°W
Rio Cuarto (disputed)Córdoba ProvinceArgentina4.5

For the Rio Cuarto craters, 2002 research suggests they may actually be aeolian structures.[9] The EID gives a size of about for Campo del Cielo, but other sources quote .

10 ka to 1 Ma

From between 10 thousand years and one million years ago, and with a diameter of less than :

NameLocationCountryDiameter
(km)
Age
(ka)
Coordinates
Wolfe CreekWestern AustraliaAustralia0.9
MonturaquiAtacama DesertChile0.455

From between ten thousand years and one million years ago, and with a diameter of or more. The largest in the last one million years is the 14km (09miles) Zhamanshin crater in Kazakhstan and has been described as being capable of producing a nuclear-like winter.[10]

However, the currently unknown source of the enormous Australasian strewnfield (c. 780 ka) could be a crater about across.[11] [12]

NameLocationCountryDiameter
(km)
Age
(ka)
Coordinates
TenoumerSahara DesertMauritania22.9172°N -10.4078°W
YilanHeilongjiangChina46.3844°N 129.3275°W
Meteor CraterArizonaUnited States35.0275°N -111.0228°W
XiuyanXiuyanChina40.3617°N 123.4631°W
LonarMaharashtraIndia19.9769°N 76.5089°W
Agoudal[13] Atlas MountainsMorocco31.9833°N -35°W
TswaingPretoria SaltpanSouth Africa-25.4089°N 28.0828°W
ZhamanshinKazakhstanKazakhstan48.4°N 60.9667°W

1 Ma to 10 Ma

From between 1 and 10 million years ago, and with a diameter of 5 km or more. If uncertainties regarding its age are resolved, then the largest in the last 10 million years would be the 52km (32miles) Karakul crater which is listed in EID with an age of less than 5 Ma, or the Pliocene. The large but apparently craterless Eltanin impact (2.5 Ma) into the Pacific Ocean has been suggested as contributing to the glaciations and cooling during the Pliocene.[14]

NameLocationCountryDiameter
(km)
Age
(Million years)
Coordinates
BosumtwiAshantiGhana6.5°N -26°W
ElgygytgynChukotka Autonomous OkrugRussia67.5°N 172°W
BigachKazakhstanKazakhstan48.5667°N 83°W
KarlaTatarstanRussia54.9167°N 50°W
KarakulPamir MountainsTajikistan[15] [16] 39.0167°N 100°W
Eltanin impactSouthern Ocean SW of Chilenone2.557°47′S 90°47′W style="text-align:right"-57.7833°N -137°W

10 Ma or more

Craters with diameter or more are all older than 10 Ma, except possibly Karakul,, whose age is uncertain.

There are more than forty craters of such size. The largest two within the last hundred million years have been linked to two extinction events: Chicxulub for the Cretaceous–Paleogene and the Popigai impact for the Eocene–Oligocene extinction event.[17]

NameLocationCountryDiameter (km)Age (million years)Coordinates
VredefortFree StateSouth Africa-27°N 57°W
ChicxulubYucatánMexico21.3333°N -119°W
SudburyOntarioCanada46.6°N -92°W
PopigaiSiberiaRussia71.65°N 122°W
ManicouaganQuebecCanada51.3833°N -110°W
AcramanSouth AustraliaAustralia-32.0167°N 162°W
MorokwengKalahari DesertSouth Africa-26.4667°N 55°W
KaraNenetsiaRussia69.1°N 73°W
BeaverheadIdaho and MontanaUnited States44.25°N -114°W
TookoonookaQueenslandAustralia-27.1167°N 192°W
CharlevoixQuebecCanada47.5333°N -88°W
Siljan RingDalarnaSweden61.0333°N 66°W
KarakulPamir MountainsTajikistan39.0167°N 100°W
MontagnaisNova ScotiaCanada42.8833°N -77°W
AraguainhaCentral BrazilBrazil-16.7833°N -111°W
Chesapeake BayVirginiaUnited States37.2833°N -77°W
MjølnirBarents SeaNorway73.8°N 69°W
Puchezh-KatunkiNizhny Novgorod OblastRussia56.9667°N 86°W
Saint MartinManitobaCanada51.7833°N -130°W
WoodleighWestern AustraliaAustralia-26.05°N 154°W
CarswellSaskatchewanCanada58.45°N -139°W
Clearwater WestQuebecCanada56.2167°N -104°W
MansonIowaUnited States42.5833°N -127°W
HiawathaGreenlandDenmark78.8333°N -85°W
Slate IslandsOntarioCanada48.6667°N -87°W
YarrabubbaWestern AustraliaAustralia-27.1667°N 168°W
KeurusselkäWestern FinlandFinland62.1333°N 60°W
ShoemakerWestern AustraliaAustralia-25.8667°N 173°W
MistastinNewfoundland and LabradorCanada55.8833°N -81°W
Clearwater EastQuebecCanada56.0667°N -80°W
KamenskSouthern Federal DistrictRussia48.35°N 70°W
Steen RiverAlbertaCanada59.5°N -155°W
StrangwaysNorthern TerritoryAustralia-15.2°N 168°W
TunnunikNorthwest TerritoriesCanada72.4667°N -171°W
BoltyshKirovohrad OblastUkraine48.9°N 47°W
Nördlinger RiesBavaria, Baden-WürttembergGermany48.8833°N 44°W
Presqu'îleQuebecCanada49.7167°N -122°W
HaughtonNunavutCanada75.3833°N -129°W
LappajärviWestern FinlandFinland63.2°N 65°W
RochechouartFranceFrance[18] 45.8167°N 47°W
Gosses BluffNorthern TerritoryAustralia-23.8167°N 150°W
Amelia CreekNorthern TerritoryAustralia-20.9167°N 184°W
LoganchaSiberiaRussia65.5167°N 151°W
Obolon'Poltava OblastUkraine49.5833°N 87°W
Dhala[19] Madhya PradeshIndia25.3°N 86°W
Nadir CraterGuinea PlateauGuinea9.3833°N -21°W

Impact structures by continent

, the Earth Impact Database (EID) contains 190 confirmed impact structures.[1] The table below is arranged by the continent's percentage of the Earth's land area, and where Asian and Russian structures are grouped together per EID convention. The global distribution of known impact structures apparently shows a surprising asymmetry,[20] with the small but well-funded European continent having a large percentage of confirmed impact structures. It is suggested this situation is an artifact, highlighting the importance of intensifying research in less studied areas like Antarctica, South America and elsewhere.

Links in the column "Continent" will give a list of craters for that continent.

Continent Continent's %
of Earth's
land area
Continent's %
of the 190
known impact structures
Number
of impact structures
30% 16% 31
20%11% 20
16%32% 60
12% 6% 11
9%0% 0
7%22% 41
6%14% 27
Total 100% 100% 190

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Earth Impact Database . 2016-04-30 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130708142632/http://www.passc.net/EarthImpactDatabase/index.html . . 2013-07-08 . dead.
  2. Bland, Phil A.; de Souza Filho, C. R.; Timothy Jull, A. J.; Kelley, Simon P.; Hough, Robert Michael; Artemieva, N. A.; Pierazzo, E.; Coniglio, J.; Pinotti, Lucio; Evers, V.; Kearsley, Anton; (2002); "A possible tektite strewn field in the Argentinian Pampa", Science, volume 296, issue 5570, pp. 1109–12
  3. Rio Cuarto . riocuarto . 2009-08-19 .
  4. Web site: Echoes of Ancient Cataclysms in the Baltic Sea . 2008-10-26 . Haas . Ain . Andres . Peekna . Robert E. . Walker . Electronic Journal of Folklore .
  5. Web site: Meteorites of Campo del Cielo: Impact on the indian culture . Giménez . Benítez . López . Alejandro M. . Mammana . Luis A. .
  6. Book: Peter T. . Bobrowsky . Hans . Rickman . Comet/asteroid impacts and human society: an interdisciplinary approach . 30–31 . Springer . 2007 . 978-3-540-32709-7 .
  7. Web site: Aboriginal oral traditions of Australian impact craters . Duane W. . Hamacher . John . Goldsmith . 2016-04-09 . 2018-08-20 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180820103004/http://www.narit.or.th/en/files/2013JAHHvol16/2013JAHH...16..295H.pdf . dead .
  8. Web site: Luminescence dating of the Morasko (Poland), Kaali, Ilumetsa, and Tsõõrikmäe (Estonia) meteorite craters . Wojciech . Stankowski . Anto . Raukas . Anto Raukas. Andrzej . Bluszcz . Stanisław . Fedorowicz .
  9. Cione . Alberto L. . etal . 2002 . Putative Meteoritic Craters in Río Cuarto (Central Argentina) Interpreted as Eolian Structures . Earth, Moon, and Planets . 91 . 1. 9–24 . 10.1023/A:1021209417252 . 2002EM&P...91....9C . 122467947 .
  10. https://www.unb.ca/passc/ImpactDatabase/essay.html Essay "Impact Cratering on Earth"
  11. Povenmire, Harold; Liu, W.; Xianlin, Luo; (1999) "Australasian tektites found in Guangxi Province, China", in Proceedings of the 30th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston, March 1999
  12. Glass, Billy P.; Pizzuto, James E.; (1994) "Geographic variation in Australasian microtektite concentrations: Implications concerning the location and size of the source crater", Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 99, no. E9, 19075–81, September 1994
  13. Agoudal . 2016-08-18 .
  14. Web site: Did a Pacific Ocean meteor trigger the Ice Age? . University of New South Wales . 19 September 2012 . 8 October 2012 .
  15. Kara-Kul . karakul . 2009-08-15 .
  16. Gurov . Eugene P. . Gurova . H. P. . Rakitskaya . R. B. . Yamnichenko . A. Yu. . The Karakul depression in Pamirs – the first impact structure in central Asia . Lunar and Planetary Science . XXIV . 591–92 . 1993 . 1993LPI....24..591G .
  17. Web site: Russia's Popigai Meteor Crash Linked to Mass Extinction . . 13 June 2014 .
  18. Cohen . Benjamin E. . Mark . Darren F. . Lee . Martin R. . Simpson . Sarah L. . 2017-08-01 . A new high-precision 40Ar/39Ar age for the Rochechouart impact structure: At least 5 Ma older than the Triassic–Jurassic boundary . Meteoritics & Planetary Science . en . 52 . 8 . 1600–11 . 10.1111/maps.12880 . 1945-5100 . 2017M&PS...52.1600C . free . 10023/10787 . free .
  19. Web site: Meteoritical Bulletin: Entry for Dhala. www.lpi.usra.edu. 2020-01-24.
  20. Prezzi, Claudia B.; Orgeira, María Julia; Acevedo, Rogelio D.; Ponce, Juan Federico; Martinez, Oscar; Rabassa, Jorge O.; Corbella, Hugo; Vásquez, Carlos; González-Guillot, Mauricio; Subías, Ignacio; (2011); "Geophysical characterization of two circular structures at Bajada del Diablo (Patagonia, Argentina): Indication of impact origin", Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, vol. 192, pp. 21–34