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October 18, 2005

Meteor Craters on Earth

Over the last few millions of years the Earth has had quite a few impacts from meteors, asteroids, and maybe even peices of comets. Scientists have confirmed 172 locations on the Earth determined to be "impact structures". In fact, the leading theory for the mass extinction of many animals, including the dinosaurs, 65.5 million years ago was an impact crater known as the "Chicxulub crater". These locations have been documented in a database available at the Earth Impact Database.

Thinklemon.com has taken the Impact Database and created Google Earth network links (he gets extra points for this) which not only shows the location of the 172 impacts, but shows a size indicator for the larger ones and provides links to Wikipedia articles and other information in the descriptions. He has organized the list by major continents and also includes a list of the top 25. Here is his announcement with his links, or you can download the entire collection now. This is a very nice collection, and since I have a degree in astronomy myself, I just had to write about this. Great job Caspar!

By the way, a good friend of mine has spent over 20 years as an astronomer helping to find near-Earth objects which may someday strike the Earth. He works at the Spacewatch Project at the University of Arizona. If anyone with lots of funding is looking to help us make plans to avoid a major future impact, Spacewatch would be a good project to fund.

Posted by FrankTaylor at October 18, 2005 8:45 AM

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Comments

Thanks!

But I must mention there's a size indicator for every 'crater' available. Some are so small you need to zoom in to make the 'impact icon' smaller than the indicator... (Double-click on the folder helps.)

There is one flaw though. The smaller the crater the more off it is. The data I pulled this off isn't accurate enough. So this needs some tweaking. Besides this, I plan to make a 'humanly/humanoid witnessable collection' and 'the oldest' KML. but more on that later.
Again, feedback is welcome.

BTW: Do you have data on 'super-volcanoes'? Size & Lat./Lon.

Posted by: Caspar at October 19, 2005 8:06 PM

Hey! Landed here all by luck. Just to tell you that I live within the worlds oldest (if not largest) impact site and have done so since 1876.
There is a lot of talk recently about the South African Govt granting miningrights to a certain company to do open exploration mining within, what we call, The Dome. That would be the begining of the end of Vredefortdome ....
So, if there might be people to be asked, point your scopes on the Vredefortdome and help preventing destruction. (One small area has been proclaimed "World Heritage" but we feel that this was done to sooth the anger against possible destruction of the rest of the Dome)
You can find my location @ S027.12.155 E027.35.477
Happy landing!
zac

Posted by: zac at November 17, 2006 6:17 AM

on google earth there is a listing that Hudson Bay, Canada, might be a crater, had this been confirmed or rubbished?

Posted by: Jake at February 18, 2007 9:36 AM

I have found a crater not listed how should I get it listed "impact crater 3" lat=-22.6810815131, lon=133.531999688

See what you think?

Posted by: Jake at February 19, 2007 6:12 AM

I have been looking at the Craters in Russia and the one's in Europe are labled as Asia. Id fix this but I dont know how.

Posted by: Peter at March 20, 2007 10:29 AM

Have you ever heard of the "Little Creek Structure" in LaSalle Parish, Louisiana? It is not a confirmed impact crater, but there is some compelling evidence.

Here is a link to a website with some information on the subject. The author is a well respected Louisiana State geologist.

http://www.searchanddiscovery.net/documents/echols/index.htm

Posted by: jkull at April 30, 2007 9:52 AM

I have found a 130+ kilometer impact crater May 26,2007 at 27d N x 107dW in Western Mexico, and nearby smaller craters as well. Calling the big one Crater del Tortuga Jorge. My conjecture is that Chicxulub wasn't alone.

Posted by: Tortuga Jorge at May 28, 2007 8:01 PM

hello anyone there?

Posted by: Kaki's Dad at August 19, 2007 4:25 PM

Yes, looking with interest as a 'newbie'. Looking for Chinese craters. So few are listed in the big lists. So looking at something like 38"16'N/88"9'E, any thoughts on this? It's round, seems impossibly placed for man-made, volcanic, or any other shape. Feel free to write at Randall_Higgins at hotmail.com

Posted by: Randy at September 17, 2007 8:43 AM

I have just played around looing at my state in NH and found this
LAT 43° 6'35.88"N
LON 71°11'22.42"W

And this right north of NH in Quebec
LAT 45°27'1.97"N
LON 71° 9'49.75"W

A few others but it may be my imagination like this one in NH. kinda looks like it could be a REALLY old where most of it is filling in. use the water and the tree outline and you will see a circle. I am sure I am pushing it with this one.
LAT 42°52'6.35"N
LON 71°12'3.85"W

Posted by: Sean Mathews at September 25, 2007 3:24 PM

I have just played around looing at my state in NH and found this
LAT 43° 6'35.88"N
LON 71°11'22.42"W

And this right north of NH in Quebec
LAT 45°27'1.97"N
LON 71° 9'49.75"W

A few others but it may be my imagination like this one in NH. kinda looks like it could be a REALLY old where most of it is filling in. use the water and the tree outline and you will see a circle. I am sure I am pushing it with this one.
LAT 42°52'6.35"N
LON 71°12'3.85"W

Posted by: Sean Mathews at September 25, 2007 3:24 PM

If the arc in the east side of Hudson Bay is an impact, and it sure looks like it is, it would be about 270 miles across (435KM) thhats the mother of all the known craters - -

Posted by: William stengel at December 8, 2007 6:12 PM

Yes looking at the 2 possible spots above Boston, near Manchester, one definitely looks like a crater. The older one could also be one. Time and exploring will tell.

The one above Alice Springs in Australia also looks like one. Hopefully I will be adventure bike riding right there later this year. There is another strange 'ring' at 20 40'17.8 S 127 28'56.22 E but may be water depression as a bulldozed track runs right through it.

I couldn’t find the ones in western Mexico.

Posted by: Malcolm at January 16, 2008 5:37 AM

I think I found something.It looks like two craters.It's in Central Europe near village Darmysl, Czech Republic.Check it out on google maps or yahoo.

Posted by: Petr at January 19, 2008 9:45 PM

I saw the hudson bay while lookin at google earth and immediately saw what i thought was a huge crater that had been filled with water. i found this forum while trying to find out more information about it. there are some geological anomalies in the region. When Earth's gravitational field was mapped starting in the 1960s a large region of below-average gravity was detected in the Hudson Bay region. This was initially thought to be a result of the crust still being depressed from the weight of the Laurentide ice sheet during the most recent Ice Age, but more detailed observations taken by the GRACE satellite suggest that this effect cannot account for the entirety of the gravitational anomaly. It is thought that convection in the underlying mantle may be contributing.[3]

Supposedly there are large deposits of iron ore under the bay which affect magnetic fields and compasses

a large meteor made of iron could be the source of the anomaly

Posted by: chris at August 4, 2008 12:49 PM

"near village Darmysl, Czech Republic."
I have found the village (49°38' 27" - 12°52'45") but don't know what you have found. Maybe you could write down the coordinates, it would be a great help!

Posted by: Monika at December 8, 2008 1:10 AM

"near village Darmysl, Czech Republic."

Google map of the area: http://www.maplandia.com/czech-republic/plzensky-kraj/tachov/darmysl/
When you switch the map view to "Terrain" a raised ring shaped feature directly below the village jumps out dramatically.

Posted by: dogmadic at January 3, 2009 12:17 PM

At the risk of loosing book sales... I've posted a draft copy of a book on the subject along with a much more extensive Google Earth Location file containing that will show you how to perceive thousands upon millions upon trillions of impact sites around the world using Google Earth. See the above URL or go to: http://www.h2orbit.com/ISBN_9780977229239/ISBN_978-0-9772292-3-9.html

When you're done with that please visit and review H2Orbit.com - It's About Sustainability.

Posted by: Charles McGowen at January 9, 2009 10:26 AM

Posted by: Robert Wyatt at July 2, 2009 12:22 AM

Hello Gents,

I believe I have found the mother of all impact craters, actually 2 of them, the large one measuring in at over 500km wide.

I will be going public in the next few days and will come back and post the link.

Stay tuned!!

Posted by: Andre Chaisson at August 8, 2009 11:37 AM

Hello

could this be a crater? it has a diameter of 7km
maybe someone with sharp eyes can see through this better! please let me know if this is a good find!

see what you think?

http://i33.tinypic.com/28vvnn8.jpg

Posted by: vanova at September 26, 2009 7:03 PM

Quoting Sean Mathews:
"I have just played around looing at my state in NH and found this
LAT 43° 6'35.88"N
LON 71°11'22.42"W "

Alas it is not an impact feature--as is obvious when you are there in person. The Pawtuckaway 'mountains' are an ancient volcanic formation.

"Quick" Reference on Pawtuckaway: http://www.nhpr.org/node/12680

As for the other NH location you list, that lake/pond has a large kame to one side of it--a glacial feature all the way.

Posted by: N1XIM at December 19, 2009 8:49 AM

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