List of possible impact structures on Earth
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

This is a list of possible impact structures on Earth. More than 130 geophysical features on the surface of the Earth have been proposed as candidate sites for
impact event An impact event is a collision between astronomical objects causing measurable effects. Impact events have physical consequences and have been found to regularly occur in planetary systems, though the most frequent involve asteroids, comets or me ...
s by appearing several times in the literature and/or being endorsed by the
Impact Field Studies Group The Impact Field Studies Group (IFSG) was a scientific organization emphasizing geologic field research of suspected and confirmed sites of impact craters and impact structures. The group is composed of researchers, professionals and students invo ...
(IFSG) and/or Expert Database on Earth Impact Structures (EDEIS). For the purposes of this list and the
List of impact craters on Earth This list of impact craters on Earth contains a selection of the 190 confirmed craters given in the Earth Impact Database as of 2017. To keep the lists manageable, only the largest craters within a time period are included. Alphabetical lists f ...
, the terminology of "confirmed" as defined by the
Earth Impact Database The Earth Impact Database is a database of confirmed impact structures or craters on Earth. It was initiated in 1955 by the Dominion Observatory, Ottawa, under the direction of Carlyle S. Beals. Since 2001, it has been maintained as a not-for-pr ...
(EID) is considered authoritative.


List of possible impact structures

The following tables list geological features on Earth that some individuals have associated with impact events, but for which there is currently no confirming scientific evidence in the peer-reviewed literature. In order for a structure to be
confirmed In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...
as an impact crater, it must meet a stringent set of well-established criteria. Some proposed impact structures are likely to eventually be confirmed, whereas others are likely to be shown to have been misidentified (see below). Recent extensive surveys have been done for Australian (2005), African (2014), and South American (2015) craters, as well as those in the Arab world (2016). A book review by A. Crósta and U. Reimold disputes some of the evidence presented for several of the South American structures.


Overview

Russia's
Lake Cheko Lake Cheko (russian: Чеко) is a small freshwater lake in Siberia, near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River, in what is now the Evenkiysky District of the Krasnoyarsk Krai. Dimensions and environs Lake Cheko is a small bowl-shaped lake. It is ab ...
is thought by one research group to be the result of the famous
Tunguska event The Tunguska event (occasionally also called the Tunguska incident) was an approximately 12- megaton explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Yeniseysk Governorate (now Krasnoyarsk Krai), Russia, on the morning of June 3 ...
, although sediments in the lake have been dated back more than 5,000 years. There is highly speculative conjecture about the supposed Sirente impact (c. 320 ± 90 AD) having caused the Roman emperor
Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I *Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine given name ...
's vision at Milvian Bridge. The Burckle crater and Umm al Binni structure are proposed to be behind the floods that affected
Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. It is one of the cradles of c ...
ian civilization.Master, S. (2002) Umm al Binni lake, a possible Holocene impact structure in the marshes of southern Iraq. In: Leroy, S. and Stewart, I.S. (Eds.), Environmental Catastrophes and Recovery in the Holocene, Abstracts Volume, Brunel University, UK, 29 August – 2 September 2002, pp. 56–57 The Kachchh impact may have been witnessed by the Harappan civilization and mentioned as a fireball in
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
texts. Shortly after the Hiawatha Crater was discovered, researchers suggested that the impact could have occurred as late as ~12,800 years ago, leading some to associate it with the
Younger Dryas impact hypothesis The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH) or Clovis comet hypothesis is a speculative attempt to explain the onset of the Younger Dryas (YD) as an alternative to the long standing and widely accepted cause due to a significant reduction or shut ...
. James Kennett, a leading advocate of the
Younger Dryas impact hypothesis The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH) or Clovis comet hypothesis is a speculative attempt to explain the onset of the Younger Dryas (YD) as an alternative to the long standing and widely accepted cause due to a significant reduction or shut ...
said, "I'd unequivocally predict that this crater is the same age as the Younger Dryas." These claims were criticised by other scholars. According to impact physicist
Mark Boslough Mark Boslough is an American physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, research professor at University of New Mexico, fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, and chair of the Asteroid Day Expert Panel. He is an expert in the study of ...
writing for ''
Skeptical Inquirer ''Skeptical Inquirer'' is a bimonthly American general-audience magazine published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) with the subtitle: ''The Magazine for Science and Reason''. Mission statement and goals Daniel Loxton, writing in ...
'' the first reports of the impact released by science journalist Paul Voosen focused on this being a young crater which according to Boslough "set the tone for virtually all the media reporting to follow". Boslough argued, based on evidence and statistical probability, that once the crater has been drilled and researched "it will turn out to be much older." He complained that this important discovery "was tainted by connections to a widely discredited hypothesis and speculations that did not make it through peer review". A 2022 study using
Argon–Argon dating Argon–argon (or 40Ar/39Ar) dating is a radiometric dating method invented to supersede potassiumargon (K/Ar) dating in accuracy. The older method required splitting samples into two for separate potassium and argon measurements, while the newer ...
of shocked zircon crystals in impact melt rocks found
outwash An outwash plain, also called a sandur (plural: ''sandurs''), sandr or sandar, is a plain formed of glaciofluvial deposits due to meltwater outwash at the terminus of a glacier. As it flows, the glacier grinds the underlying rock surface and ca ...
less than 10 km downstream of the glacier pushed the estimate back to around 57.99 ± 0.54 million years ago, during the late
Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), E ...
. Confirmation would require drilling almost through the ice sheet above the crater to obtain a sample of dateable, solidified impact melt from the crater. The age of the Bloody Creek crater is uncertain. As the trend in the Earth Impact Database for about 26 confirmed craters younger than a million years old shows that almost all are less than in diameter (except the Agoudal and Rio Cuarto), the suggestion that two large craters,
Mahuika Mahuika is a Māori fire deity. Generally, Mahuika is female and wife of the god Auahitūroa. Myths In some versions, she is the younger sister of Hine-nui-te-pō, goddess of death. It was from her that Māui (in some versions he is her grands ...
() and Burckle (), formed only within the last few millennia has been met with skepticism. However, the source of the young (less than a million years old) and enormous
Australasian strewnfield The Australasian strewnfield is the youngest and largest of the tektite strewnfields, with recent estimates suggesting it might cover 10%–30% of the Earth's surface.Glass, B.P. and Wu, J., 1993. ''Coesite and shocked quartz discovered in the, A ...
(c. 790 ka) is suggested to be a crater about across somewhere in Indochina,Povenmire H., Liu W. and Xianlin I. (1999
"Australasian tektites found in Guangxi Province, China"
30th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston, March 1999.
with Hartung and Koeberl (1994) proposing the elongated Tonlé Sap lake in
Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
(visible in the map at the side) as a suspect structure. The
Decorah crater The Decorah crater, also called the Decorah impact structure, is a possible impact crater located on the east side of the city of Decorah in Iowa, United States. It is thought to have been caused by a meteor about wide which struck during the Mi ...
has been conjectured as being part of the
Ordovician meteor event The Ordovician meteor event was a dramatic increase in the rate at which L chondrite meteorites fell to Earth during the Middle Ordovician period, about 467.5±0.28 million years ago. This is indicated by abundant fossil L chondrite meteorites in ...
. Several twin impacts have been proposed, such as the
Rubielos de la Cérida Rubielos de la Cérida is a municipality located in the province of Teruel, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2010 census the municipality had a population of 45 inhabitants.Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain) Its postal code is 44166 See a ...
and
Azuara Azuara is a municipality located in the province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2010 census the municipality has a population of 220 inhabitants.Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain) Its postal code is 50140 Cueva del Cabuchic ...
(30–40 Ma), Cerro Jarau and Piratininga (c. 117 Ma), and Warburton East and West (300–360 Ma).World's largest asteroid impact zone found in Australia
Meteorite broke in two, leaving two craters each 200 km across. Mar 24, 2015
However, adjacent craters may not necessarily have formed at the same time, as demonstrated by the case of the confirmed Clearwater East and West lakes. Some confirmed impacts like Sudbury or
Chicxulub The Chicxulub crater () is an impact crater buried underneath the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. Its center is offshore near the community of Chicxulub, after which it is named. It was formed slightly over 66 million years ago when a large a ...
are also sources of
magnetic anomalies In geophysics, a magnetic anomaly is a local variation in the Earth's magnetic field resulting from variations in the chemistry or magnetism of the rocks. Mapping of variation over an area is valuable in detecting structures obscured by overlying ...
and/or gravity anomalies. The magnetic anomalies
Bangui Bangui () (or Bangî in Sango, formerly written Bangi in English) is the capital and largest city of the Central African Republic. It was established as a French outpost in 1889 and named after its location on the northern bank of the Ubangi ...
and Jackpine Creek, the gravity anomalies
Wilkes Land crater Wilkes Land crater is an informal term that may apply to two separate cases of conjectured giant impact craters hidden beneath the ice cap of Wilkes Land, East Antarctica. These are separated below under the heading Wilkes Land anomaly and Wilkes L ...
and Falkland Islands, and others have been considered as being of impact origin. Bangui apparently has been discredited, but appears again in a 2014 table of unconfirmed structures in Africa by Reimold and Koeberl. Several anomalies in
Williston Basin The Williston Basin is a large intracratonic sedimentary basin in eastern Montana, western North Dakota, South Dakota, southern Saskatchewan, and south-western Manitoba that is known for its rich deposits of petroleum and potash. The basin is a ...
were identified by Swatzky in the 1970s as
astrobleme An impact structure is a generally circular or craterlike geologic structure of deformed bedrock or sediment produced by impact on a planetary surface, whatever the stage of erosion of the structure. In contrast, an impact crater is the sur ...
s including Viewfield, Red Wing Creek, Eagle Butte, Dumas, and
Hartney Hartney is an unincorporated urban community in the Municipality of Grassland within the Canadian province of Manitoba that held town status prior to January 1, 2015. It along the Souris River. Originally established in 1882, the community is nam ...
, of which only the last two are unconfirmed. The
Eltanin impact The Eltanin impact is thought to be an asteroid impact in the eastern part of the South Pacific Ocean that occurred around the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary approximately 2.51 ± 0.07  million years ago. The location was at the edge of th ...
has been confirmed (via an
iridium anomaly The term iridium anomaly commonly refers to an unusual abundance of the chemical element iridium in a layer of rock strata at the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary. The unusually high concentration of a rare metal like iridium is often take ...
and meteoritic material from ocean cores) but, as it fell into the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
, apparently no crater was formed. The age of Silverpit and the confirmed Boltysh crater (65.17 ± 0.64 Ma), as well as their
latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...
, has led to the speculative hypothesis that there may have been several impacts during the KT boundary. Of the five
ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...
s in descending order by area, namely the
Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
,
Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
,
Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...
,
Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...
, and
Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...
, only the smallest (the Arctic) does not yet have a proposed unconfirmed impact crater. Craters larger than in the
Phanerozoic The Phanerozoic Eon is the current geologic eon in the geologic time scale, and the one during which abundant animal and plant life has existed. It covers 538.8 million years to the present, and it began with the Cambrian Period, when anima ...
(after 541 Ma) are notable for their size as well as for the possible coeval events associated with them especially the major
extinction event An extinction event (also known as a mass extinction or biotic crisis) is a widespread and rapid decrease in the biodiversity on Earth. Such an event is identified by a sharp change in the diversity and abundance of multicellular organisms. I ...
s. For example, the Ishim impact structure is conjectured to be bounded by the late
Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start ...
-early
Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozo ...
(c. 445 ± 5 Ma), the two Warburton basins have been linked to the
Late Devonian extinction The Late Devonian extinction consisted of several extinction events in the Late Devonian Epoch, which collectively represent one of the five largest mass extinction events in the history of life on Earth. The term primarily refers to a major ex ...
(c. 360 Ma), both Bedout and the
Wilkes Land crater Wilkes Land crater is an informal term that may apply to two separate cases of conjectured giant impact craters hidden beneath the ice cap of Wilkes Land, East Antarctica. These are separated below under the heading Wilkes Land anomaly and Wilkes L ...
have been associated with the severe
Permian–Triassic extinction event The Permian–Triassic (P–T, P–Tr) extinction event, also known as the Latest Permian extinction event, the End-Permian Extinction and colloquially as the Great Dying, formed the boundary between the Permian and Triassic geologic periods, as ...
(c. 252 Ma), Manicouagan (c. 215 Ma) was once thought to be connected to the
Triassic–Jurassic extinction event The Triassic–Jurassic (Tr-J) extinction event, often called the end-Triassic extinction, marks the boundary between the Triassic and Jurassic periods, , and is one of the top five major extinction events of the Phanerozoic eon, profoundly affect ...
(c. 201 Ma) but more recent dating has made it unlikely, while the consensus is the
Chicxulub impact The Chicxulub crater () is an impact crater buried underneath the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. Its center is offshore near the community of Chicxulub, after which it is named. It was formed slightly over 66 million years ago when a large a ...
caused the one for Cretaceous–Paleogene (c. 66 Ma). However, other extinction theories employ coeval periods of massive volcanism such as the
Siberian Traps The Siberian Traps (russian: Сибирские траппы, Sibirskiye trappy) is a large region of volcanic rock, known as a large igneous province, in Siberia, Russia. The massive eruptive event that formed the traps is one of the largest ...
(Permian-Triassic) and
Deccan Traps The Deccan Traps is a large igneous province of west-central India (17–24°N, 73–74°E). It is one of the largest volcanic features on Earth, taking the form of a large shield volcano. It consists of numerous layers of solidified flood ...
(Cretaceous-Paleogene).


Undiscovered but inferred

There is geological evidence for impact events having taken place on Earth on certain specific occasions, which should have formed craters, but for which no impact craters have been found. In some cases this is because of erosion and Earth's crust having been recycled through plate tectonics, in others likely because exploration of the Earth's surface is incomplete, or because no actual crater was formed because the impacting object exploded as a cosmic air burst. Typically the ages are already known and the diameters can be estimated.


Mistaken identity

Some geological processes can result in circular or near-circular features that may be mistaken for impact craters. Some examples are '' calderas,
maar A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...
s,
sinkholes A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...
,
glacial cirque A (; from the Latin word ') is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from Scottish Gaelic , meaning a pot or cauldron) and (; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform ...
s,
igneous intrusions Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or ...
,
ring dike A ring dike or ring dyke is an intrusive igneous body that is circular, oval or arcuate in plan and has steep contacts. While the widths of ring dikes differ, they can be up to several thousand meters. The most commonly accepted method of ring dik ...
s,
salt domes A salt dome is a type of structural dome formed when salt (or other evaporite minerals) intrudes into overlying rocks in a process known as diapirism. Salt domes can have unique surface and subsurface structures, and they can be discovered using ...
,
geologic domes Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...
,
ventifacts A ventifact (also wind-faceted stone, windkanter) is a rock (geology), rock that has been abraded, pitted, etched, grooved, or polished by wind-driven sand or ice crystals. These geomorphic features are most typically found in arid environments wh ...
,
tuff ring Phreatomagmatic eruptions are volcanic eruptions resulting from interaction between magma and water. They differ from exclusively magmatic eruptions and phreatic eruptions. Unlike phreatic eruptions, the products of phreatomagmatic eruptions cont ...
s, forest rings'', and others. Conversely, an impact crater may originally be thought as one of these geological features, like
Meteor Crater Meteor Crater, or Barringer Crater, is a meteorite impact crater about east of Flagstaff and west of Winslow in the desert of northern Arizona, United States. The site had several earlier names, and fragments of the meteorite are official ...
(as a
maar A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...
) or
Upheaval Dome Upheaval Dome is an enigmatic geological structure in San Juan County, Utah, United States, that has been variously interpreted as a meteorite impact structure or a salt dome. The structure lies southwest of the city of Moab, Utah, in the Islan ...
(as a salt dome). The presence of
shock metamorphism Shock metamorphism or impact metamorphism describes the effects of shock-wave related deformation and heating during impact events. The formation of similar features during explosive volcanism is generally discounted due to the lack of metamorp ...
and
shatter cones Shatter cones are rare geological features that are only known to form in the bedrock beneath meteorite impact craters or underground nuclear explosions. They are evidence that the rock has been subjected to a shock with pressures in the ra ...
are important criteria in favor of an impact interpretation, though massive landslides (such as the
Köfels landslide Umhausen is a municipality in the Imst district of state of Tyrol in western Austria. It and is located 17 km southeast of Imst at the Ötztaler Ache in the Ötztal. It has 3078 inhabitants. Geography The municipality consists of six vill ...
of 7800 BC which was once thought to be impact-related) may produce shock-like fused rocks called "frictionite". File:Crater lake oregon.jpg,
Crater Lake Crater Lake (Klamath language, Klamath: ''Giiwas'') is a volcanic crater lake in south-central Oregon in the western United States. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and is famous for its deep blue color and water clarity. The ...
, Oregon (a ''
caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...
'') File:Maare.jpg, Three ''
maar A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...
s'' in Germany File:Great Blue Hole.jpg,
Great Blue Hole The Great Blue Hole is a giant Blue hole, marine sinkhole off the coast of Belize. It lies near the center of Lighthouse Reef, a small atoll from the mainland and Belize City. The hole is circular in shape, across and deep. It has a surface ...
, Belize (a ''
sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...
'') File:2013-09-09 12 34 02 View of the Verdi Lake from Verdi Peaks.jpg, Verdi Lake (a ''
glacial cirque A (; from the Latin word ') is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from Scottish Gaelic , meaning a pot or cauldron) and (; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform ...
'') File:Kondyor-view.jpg,
Kondyor Massif The Kondyor Massif (russian: горы Кондёр) or Konder is a circular intrusion of igneous rock, about in diameter. It is located in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, west-southwest of Okhotsk, or south-east of Yakutsk. It is reached from Yak ...
or Konder (an ''
igneous intrusion In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...
'') File:Pawtuckaway-topo.jpg, ''
Ring dike A ring dike or ring dyke is an intrusive igneous body that is circular, oval or arcuate in plan and has steep contacts. While the widths of ring dikes differ, they can be up to several thousand meters. The most commonly accepted method of ring dik ...
'' on
Pawtuckaway State Park Pawtuckaway State Park is a preserve in New Hampshire, United States. It is one of the largest state parks in southeastern New HampshireSalt domes A salt dome is a type of structural dome formed when salt (or other evaporite minerals) intrudes into overlying rocks in a process known as diapirism. Salt domes can have unique surface and subsurface structures, and they can be discovered using ...
'' on Melville Island File:ASTER Richat.jpg,
Richat structure The Richat Structure, also called ''Guelb er Richât'' ( ar, قلب الريشات, Qalb ar-Rīšāt), is a prominent circular geological feature in the Sahara's Adrar Plateau, near Ouadane, west–central Mauritania, Northwest Africa. In the ...
(and the similar Semsiyat) as a '' geologic dome'' File:Arkenu craters.jpg, The
Arkenu structures The Arkenu structures, also known as the Arkenu craters, are a pair of prominent circular geological structures in eastern Libya. The structures are approximately and in diameter, and lie about west of Jabal Arkanu on the eastern margin of the ...
are now considered as a ''
ventifact A ventifact (also wind-faceted stone, windkanter) is a rock that has been abraded, pitted, etched, grooved, or polished by wind-driven sand or ice crystals. These geomorphic features are most typically found in arid environments where there is lit ...
'' File:ISS-47 Brukkaros Mountain, Namibia.jpg,
Brukkaros Mountain Brukkaros Mountain (Khoekhoe: ''Geitsi Gubib'') is a collapsed caldera in ǁKaras Region, Namibia. Measuring 1,590 metres at its peak on the eastern edge of the crater, Brukkaros is located about 15 kilometres northeast of the primarily Nama tow ...
as a ''
tuff ring Phreatomagmatic eruptions are volcanic eruptions resulting from interaction between magma and water. They differ from exclusively magmatic eruptions and phreatic eruptions. Unlike phreatic eruptions, the products of phreatomagmatic eruptions cont ...
'' File:Boreal Forest Ring.jpg, A '' forest ring'' from
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
. File:Köfels Landslide.jpg, The
Köfels landslide Umhausen is a municipality in the Imst district of state of Tyrol in western Austria. It and is located 17 km southeast of Imst at the Ötztaler Ache in the Ötztal. It has 3078 inhabitants. Geography The municipality consists of six vill ...


See also

*
Earth Impact Database The Earth Impact Database is a database of confirmed impact structures or craters on Earth. It was initiated in 1955 by the Dominion Observatory, Ottawa, under the direction of Carlyle S. Beals. Since 2001, it has been maintained as a not-for-pr ...
*
Gliese 710 Gliese 710, or HIP 89825, is an orange star in the constellation Serpens Cauda. It is projected to pass near the Sun in about 1.29 million years at a predicted minimum distance of 0.051 parsecs— (about 1.60 trillion km) – about 1/25 ...
– example of gravitational perturbations (in mega-year scale) of the Solar System *
Impact Field Studies Group The Impact Field Studies Group (IFSG) was a scientific organization emphasizing geologic field research of suspected and confirmed sites of impact craters and impact structures. The group is composed of researchers, professionals and students invo ...
*
Impact crater An impact crater is a circular depression in the surface of a solid astronomical object formed by the hypervelocity impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal collapse, impact craters ...
s *
Impact event An impact event is a collision between astronomical objects causing measurable effects. Impact events have physical consequences and have been found to regularly occur in planetary systems, though the most frequent involve asteroids, comets or me ...
s *
List of impact craters on Earth This list of impact craters on Earth contains a selection of the 190 confirmed craters given in the Earth Impact Database as of 2017. To keep the lists manageable, only the largest craters within a time period are included. Alphabetical lists f ...
*
List of meteor air bursts A meteor air burst is a type of air burst in which a meteor explodes after entering a planetary body's atmosphere. This fate leads them to be called fireballs or bolides, with the brightest air bursts known as superbolides. Such meteoroids wer ...
* Tollmann's bolide hypothesis * ''
Traces of Catastrophe ''Traces of Catastrophe: A Handbook of Shock-Metamorphic Effects in Terrestrial Meteorite Impact Structures'' is a book written by Bevan M. French of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a comprehensive technical reference on the science of impact ...
'', 1998 book from
Lunar and Planetary Institute The Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) is a scientific research institute dedicated to study of the Solar System, its formation, evolution, and current state. The Institute is part of the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) and is supp ...
– comprehensive reference on impact crater science


Notes and references


Notes


References


Bibliography

*


External links


Earth Impact Database
– List of confirmed earth impact sites at the Planetary and Space Science Centre,
University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Ameri ...

Impact Database
(formerly Suspected Earth Impact Sites list) maintained by David Rajmon fo

US {{DEFAULTSORT:Impact craters,possible,Earth + Lists of coordinates *