12 EARTH CRATERS to visit now
ISLET OF VILA FRANCA DO CAMPO
SÃO MIGUEL ISLAND, THE AZORES, PORTUGAL
Diameter: 150 metres (490 feet)
Depth: 20 meters (66 feet)
Age: 4,000 years
Earth is perpetually bombarded with space debris, but most of it burns up during entry through the atmosphere. We enjoy this in the form of fleeting meteor showers, though on occasion an object is so big it survives its entry through the atmosphere, leaving its mark. There are 190 confirmed impact structures on Earth, and each one is recorded in the Planetary and Space Science Centre database – a collection of images and publications on impact structures around the world that has been compiled over the last 25 years.
Due to Earth’s dynamic climate, processes such as weathering and erosion work to erase any trace of these cosmic visitors from our landscape. Some of the largest impacts to ever occur on Earth are barely visible to us today, at least not in the traditional ‘hole in the ground’ sense. In South Africa, the Vredefort crater is the world’s largest known impact crater. Scientists believe the impact forged a crater between 180 and 300 kilometres (111 and 186 miles) wide, but as the crater has endured over 2 billion years of erosion, the exact size is difficult to determine. Impact craters are a window into the geological past, and scientists study these structures to understand the history of our dynamic Solar System, using this information to predict future impact scenarios.
These structures have impacted Earth in more ways than one, both from a scientific viewpoint and also from a cultural perspective, influencing myths, stories and religious beliefs. Despite our planet erasing them over time, there are a myriad of craters still visible on Earth – some of these, called calderas, are created by powerful volcanic eruptions. You can explore
