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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]
This is a list of officially named craters in the Solar System as named by IAU's Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature.As of 2017, there is a total of 5,223 craters on 40 astronomical bodies, which includes minor planets (asteroids and dwarf planets), planets, and natural satellites. [1]
A volcanic crater is a bowl-shaped depression in the ground caused by volcanic activity, usually located above the volcano's vent. [11] During volcanic eruptions, molten magma and volcanic gases rise from an underground magma chamber, through a conduit, until they reach the crater's vent, from where the gases escape into the atmosphere and the magma is erupted as lava.
Crater Crater diameter Body diameter Ratio Images Notes Mercury: Caloris: 1,550 km (963 mi) 4,880 km 32% Rembrandt: 715 km (444 mi) 15% Venus: Mead: 280 km (170 mi) 12,100 km 2% Earth: Vredefort: 250–300 km (160–190 mi) 12,740 km 2% Chicxulub crater: 182 km (113 mi) 1.4% Cause or contributor of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event ...
The EID lists fewer than ten such craters, and the largest in the last 100,000 years (100 ka) is the 4.5 km (2.8 mi) 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 [ 2 ] [ 4 ] while the EID gives a broader < 100 ka.
The origin of the Nastapoka arc has been a source of disagreement and discussion among geologists, other Earth scientists, and planetary geologists.Noting the paucity of impact structures on Earth in relation to the Moon and Mars and remarkable curvature of the shoreline of this part of Hudson Bay, Beals [1] proposes that the Nastapoka arc is possibly part of a Precambrian extraterrestrial ...
The structures date to the Iron Ages, the archaeologists said, sometime between the 8th and 5th centuries B.C. The buildings were part of an ancient village, built around a central square within ...
Descartes is a heavily worn lunar impact crater that is located in the rugged south-central highlands of the Moon. To the southwest is the crater Abulfeda. It is named after the French philosopher, mathematician and physicist René Descartes. [1] The rim of Descartes survives only in stretches, and is completely missing in the north.