Did You Know: Impact Craters

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There are nearly 200 confirmed impact craters on Earth's surface.

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Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with the NASA Earth Observatory (https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/).
 
Story adapted from Image of the Day post by Robert Simmon: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/39769/fresh-craters-on-the-moon-and-earth
 
  • Image of Terrestrial impact craters: Earth Impact Database, PASSC, University of New Brunswick; Google Earth: SIO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO, Landsat/Copernicus
  • Image of Barringer Crater: National Map Seamless Server, USGS
  • Image of Lonar Crater: Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, Terra satellite
  • Image of Tenoumer Crater: Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, Terra satellite
  • Image of Tin Bider Crater: Advanced Land Imager, Earth Observing-1 satellite
  • Image of Aorounga Crater: Expedition 20 Crew, International Space Station
  • Image of Shoemaker (Teague) Impact Structure: Expedition 28 Crew, International Space Station
  • Written by Margaret Carruthers

Transcript


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Text, Did You Know? Impact Craters
 
In an animation, the Earth turns. Text, There are nearly 200 confirmed impact craters on Earth's surface.
 
Impact craters form when meteorites - rocks from space - strike Earth's surface and explode.
 
Simple Crater, Some impact craters are relatively small, young, and fresh, with simple bowl-like shapes. Barringer Crater (Meteor Crater), Arizona, 50,000 years old.
 
Lonar Crater, India, 35,000 - 50,000 years old
 
Tenoumer Crater, Mauritania, 20,000 - 1.6 million years old
 
Complex Crater. Others are larger, older, buried, and more eroded, with more complex structures. Tin Bider Crater, Algeria, 70 million years old
 
Aorounga Crater, Chad, 350 milion years old
 
Shoemaker (Teague) Impact Structure, Western Australia, 1.6 billion years old