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Objects from outer space that manage to penetrate the atmosphere can hit the Earth’s surface and create impact craters. In the past, many impact craters appeared in various parts of the world.
According to the Lunar and Planetary Institute, impact craters form when a planet’s surface is hit by a meteoroid, causing the excavation of surface material. This impact structure typically takes the form of a circular excavated hole.
Based on data from the Planetary and Space Science Center (PASSC) at the University of New Brunswick in Canada, there are 190 confirmed impact structures on Earth. Each is recorded in their database which has been collected over the past 25 years.
These impact craters provide scientists with a window into Earth’s geological past. This is because scientists can study crater structures to understand the dynamic history of the solar system and use that information to predict future impact scenarios.
The following are several impact craters in various parts of the world, quoted from Space.
6 Impact Craters on Earth Due to Meteorites
1. Barringer Crater – Northern Arizona
Barringer Crater, also known as the Meteor Crater, was formed 50,000 years ago. This crater appeared as a result of a meteor measuring 30 meters-50 meters in diameter hitting the highlands in northern Arizona, according to the Lunar and Planetary Institute.
The 300,000 ton meteor traveled at speeds of up to 12 km per second and exploded with the force of two and a half million tons of TNT, according to the Barringer Crater Company.
The crater is privately owned by the Barringer Crater Company, a family-owned company dedicated to crater preservation. The company was founded by Daniel Moreau Baringer, the first person to identify the crater’s cosmic origins.
2. Wolfe Creek Crater – Western Australia
According to the Australian Parks and Wildlife Service, the Wolfe Creek Crater was formed 300,000 years ago. However, a recent study from the University of Wollongong in 2019 analyzed the radiation exposure of the crater rock and estimated the age of the crater to be only 120,000 years.
Scientists estimate that the meteor in the crater, which was 15 meters in diameter and weighed more than 15,000 tons, hit at a speed of 17 km per second.
This crater is located on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert in Wolfe Creek Crater National Park, northern Western Australia. This crater was only seen by Europeans in 1947 when it was observed via an aerial survey of the area.
3. Lonar Crater – South India
Lonar Crater is located on the Deccan Plateau in South India, which was formed between 35,000 to 50,000 years ago due to a meteor impact.
However, this large meteorite crater has puzzled scientists since it was identified in 1823 by British officer CJE Alexander, according to NASA Earth Observatory.
This is because this crater is located in a large plain of basaltic rocks left over from volcanic eruptions in the area 65 million years ago. Therefore, the crater was initially thought to be a volcanic crater.
After research, Lonar Crater turned out to be an impact crater which is known to have formed in basalt.
4. Gosses Bluff Crater (Tnorala) – Australia
Australia has another impact crater, namely the Gosses Bluff (Tnorala) Crater. According to scientists, this crater was formed due to the impact of a meteor traveling at a speed of up to 40 km per second 142 million years ago.
The giant crater, almost 22 km wide, has been eroded over the years. However, the core of the crater, which is the center of hills with a diameter of almost 4.5 km, is still visible today.
According to the Australian Government, the remaining crater was named Gosses Range by explorer Ernest Giles in 1872. He named the crater after H Gossem, Member of the Royal Society.
5. Kaali Crater – Estonia
Kaali Crater is located on Saaremaa, the largest island in Estonia. The island is thought to have been inhabited at the time of the meteorite impact around 1530-1549 BC, according to a study published in Meteoritics and Planetary Science.
This crater is thought to have formed when a meteor broke into several pieces at a height of 5 to 10 km above the ground. Then the pieces hit the island of Estonia and created several giant craters.
6. Roter Kamm Crater – Namibia
This crater is located in the middle of rust-red sand dunes in the Namib Desert, southwest of Namibia. According to the ESA, the Roter Kamm crater was discovered in Tsau ǁKhaeb National Park, a mining area in southwestern Namibia.
Scientists believe that this crater was formed by a meteorite that hit Earth five million years ago. The impact then caused the edge of the crater to reach 40 to 90 meters above the surrounding plains and the bottom of the crater was covered in sand deposits up to 100 meters thick.
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2024-04-08 12:00:00
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