Craters on Earth


(308K GIF)
This is the Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona. The diameter is 1.2 kilometers, and it is 49,000 years old. (Courtesy of D. Roddy and LPI)

(199K GIF)
This is Wolfe Creek Crater in Australia. It is partly buried under wind blown sand. Its crater rim rises 25 meters (82 feet) above the land and the crater floor is 50 meters (164 feet) below the rim. (Courtesy of V. L. Sharpton, LPI)

(316K GIF)
These twin impact craters are Clearwater East and West craters located in Quebec, Canada. They were formed at the same time by two separate but probably related meteorite impacts. This rarely occurs on Earth. The larger Clearwater Lake West (left) shows a ring of islands that has a diameter of about 10 kilometers (6 miles). They constitute a raised area and are covered with impact melts. The central peak of the smaller Clearwater Lake East (right) is submerged. (Courtesy NASA/LPI)

(439K GIF)
This is Roter Kamm Crater located in South West Africa in the Namibia Desert. Scientists believe that a meteorite hit this area about 5 million years ago. The crater floor is covered by sand dunes. (Courtesy of W. U. Reimold and LPI)

(218K GIF)
This is a space radar image of the Roter Kamm Crater. The data were acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) instrument onboard space shuttle Endeavour on April 14, 1994. The area shown is approximately 25.5 kilometers (15.8 miles) by 36.4 kilometers (22.5 miles.) (Courtesy NASA/JPL)


You might also be interested in:

Impact Craters on Earth

Compared with other planets, impact craters are rare surface features on Earth. There are two main reasons for the low number of craters. One is that our atmosphere burns up most meteoroids before they...more

A Crater on Earth that Looks out of this World!

Scientists studying the rock layers that lie under the North Sea have found a mysterious crater. It doesn’t look like other craters on Earth. It does look like craters that are far away on Europa and...more

Setting up a Sponsorship to Windows to the Universe

Becoming a sponsor of the Windows to the Universe project is easy! Please decide what you would like to contribute to the project (all contributions are tax deductible), fill out our Sponsorship Form and...more

Donations to Windows to the Universe

Is Windows to the Universe a valuable resource for you? If so, we encourage you to help support this project through a donation, by joining Windows to the Universe as a Member, or through your purchases...more

Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA