Knowra Impact cratering Impact cratering Impact cratering is the formation of a crater and surrounding structure when a meteoroid, asteroid, or comet strikes a planetary surface at high speed. The collision excavates and deforms the target, often melting or vaporizing some material.
Impact cratering process : The sequence of shock compression, excavation, and modification that forms an impact crater. It breaks crater formation into the physical stages triggered by a high-speed collision.
Meteoroid : A small natural body traveling through interplanetary space before entering an atmosphere. Meteoroids can reach a surface as impactors if they survive atmospheric passage.
Chicxulub crater : A buried impact structure beneath Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, formed about 66 million years ago. Its formation is linked to the environmental crisis at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary.
Impact crater dating : The estimation of a planetary surface's age from the number and distribution of its impact craters. Crater counts turn preserved impacts into approximate ages for surfaces lacking returned samples.
Volcanic crater : A depression formed by volcanic activity, such as an eruption or collapse above a magma chamber. Volcanic craters can resemble impact craters but form through internal planetary processes.
Shock wave : A propagating disturbance that compresses and heats material when pressure changes faster than sound can travel. The impact launches shock waves that crush, heat, and transform rock.
Asteroid : A small rocky or metallic body orbiting the Sun, most commonly found in the asteroid belt. Asteroids are major sources of the bodies that produce planetary impact structures.
Barringer Crater : A young impact crater in Arizona, also known as Meteor Crater. Its well-preserved form helped establish that impacts create terrestrial craters.
Planetary geology : The study of the geology of planets, moons, and other solid bodies. Impact structures are a major record used to interpret the surfaces and histories of planetary bodies.
Caldera : A large volcanic depression formed when a magma chamber is partly emptied and its roof collapses. Calderas are collapse structures, unlike craters excavated by incoming bodies.
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