List of impact structures on Earth

Confirmed impact structures listed by size and age

These features were caused by the collision of meteors (consisting of large fragments of asteroids) or comets (consisting of ice, dust particles and rocky fragments) with the Earth. For eroded or buried craters, the stated diameter typically refers to the best available estimate of the original rim diameter, and may not correspond to present surface features. Time units are either in ka (thousands) or Ma (millions) of years.

10 ka or less

Less than ten thousand years old, and with a diameter of 100 m or more. The EID lists fewer than ten such craters, and the largest in the last 100,000 years (100 ka) is the 4.5 km Rio Cuarto crater in Argentina. However, there is some uncertainty regarding its origins and age, with some sources giving it as

The Kaali impacts () during the Nordic Bronze Age may have influenced Estonian and Finnish mythology, the Campo del Cielo () could be in the legends of some Native Argentine tribes, while Henbury () has figured in Australian Aboriginal oral traditions.

The EID gives a size of about 50 m for Campo del Cielo, but other sources quote 100 m.

10 ka to 1 Ma

From between 10 thousand years and one million years ago, and with a diameter of less than 1 km:

From between ten thousand years and one million years ago, and with a diameter of 1 km or more. The largest in the last one million years is the 14 km Zhamanshin crater in Kazakhstan and has been described as being capable of producing a nuclear-like winter.

The source of the enormous Australasian strewnfield (c. 780 ka) is a currently undiscovered crater probably located in Southeast Asia.

1 Ma to 10 Ma

From between 1 and 10 million years ago. The large but apparently craterless Eltanin impact (2.5 Ma) into the Pacific Ocean has been suggested as contributing to the glaciations and cooling during the Pliocene.

{{anchor|Largest craters}}10 Ma or more

Most recorded impact craters are over 10 million years old, or have widely uncertain ages. The Chicxulub impact has been widely considered the most likely cause for the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction, with some scholars linking other impacts like the Popigai impact in Russia and the Chesapeake Bay impact to later extinction events, though the causal relationship has been questioned.

Inferred impact events

Some impact events are only known from events like layers of spherules or tektites generated by the impact recorded in contemporary rocks, and their impact structures may no longer exist.

Statistics of impact structures by continent

, the Earth Impact Database (EID) contains 190 confirmed impact structures. The table below is arranged by the continent's percentage of the Earth's land area, and where Asian and Russian structures are grouped together per EID convention.

The global distribution of known impact structures apparently shows a surprising asymmetry, with the small but well-funded European continent having a large percentage of confirmed impact structures. As meteorites impacting Earth should impact evenly across the surface, it is suggested this situation is an artifact, highlighting the importance of intensifying research in less studied areas like Antarctica, South America and elsewhere.

References

References

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