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The largest in the last one million years is the 14-kilometre (8.7 mi) Zhamanshin crater in Kazakhstan and has been described as being capable of producing a nuclear-like winter. [11] The source of the enormous Australasian strewnfield (c. 780 ka) is a currently undiscovered crater probably located in Southeast Asia. [12] [13]
The Vredefort impact structure is the largest verified impact structure on Earth. [1] The crater, which has since been eroded away, has been estimated at 170–300 kilometres (110–190 mi) across when it was formed. [2] [3] The remaining structure, comprising the deformed underlying bedrock, is located in present-day Free State province of ...
Following are the largest impact craters on various worlds of the Solar System. For a full list of named craters, see List of craters in the Solar System. The ratio column compares the crater diameter with the diameter of the impacted celestial body. The maximum crater diameter is 157% of the body diameter (the circumference along a great circle).
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 two km (1.2 mi) in diameter (except the three km (1.9 mi) Agoudal and four km (2.5 mi) Rio Cuarto), the suggestion that two large craters, Mahuika (20 km (12 mi)) and Burckle (30 km (19 mi)), formed only ...
The outermost ring was identified using seismic reflection data. It is up to 130 kilometers (81 mi) from the crater center, and is a ring of normal faults, throwing down towards the crater center, marking the outer limit of significant crustal deformation. This makes it one of the three largest impact structures on Earth.
An impact crater is a depression in the surface of a solid astronomical body formed by the hypervelocity impact of a smaller object. 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 terrain. [3]
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-profit source of information at the Planetary and Space Science Centre at the University of New ...
If its status as an impact crater is ever confirmed, the Shiva crater would be the largest known impact crater on Earth. It is estimated that this proposed crater would have been made by an asteroid or comet approximately 40 km (25 mi) in diameter. [2] [3]