Meteor Crater

Meteor Crater is a roughly 1.2-kilometer-wide impact crater in northern Arizona, formed about 50,000 years ago when an iron meteorite struck the Colorado Plateau.

Impact cratering: The formation of a crater when a high-speed object collides with a planetary surface. Meteor Crater is a well-preserved terrestrial example of this process.
Daniel Moreau Barringer: An American mining engineer who investigated Meteor Crater and proposed that it contained a valuable iron deposit. His drilling campaign sought the buried mass he believed had formed the crater.
Impact structure: A geological structure produced when an extraterrestrial body collides with a planetary surface. Meteor Crater is the visible surface expression of an impact structure.
Planetary geology: The study of the geology of planets, moons, asteroids, and other solid bodies. The crater offers a terrestrial analogue for studying impact features elsewhere in the Solar System.
Impact hazard: The risk that an asteroid or comet will collide with Earth and cause damage. Meteor Crater demonstrates the local effects a comparatively small impact can produce.
Barringer meteorite: The iron meteorite fragments associated with the impact that formed Meteor Crater. Its fragments identify the impactor as an iron-rich asteroid remnant.
Grove Karl Gilbert: An American geologist who studied Meteor Crater in 1891 and argued it was volcanic. His interpretation shows why the crater's impact origin was not initially accepted.
Iron meteorite: A meteorite composed mainly of iron and nickel. The impactor that formed Meteor Crater was an iron-rich body.
Lunar crater: A depression on the Moon, most commonly formed by an impact. Comparisons with lunar craters help test how impact features form on airless worlds.
Asteroid impact avoidance: Methods for detecting and changing the trajectories of asteroids that threaten Earth. The crater makes the consequences of an impact tangible in discussions of planetary defense.

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