Asteroid Impacts: Scars on Earth's Surface

Central peak craters are a type of volcanic crater, not an asteroid impact crater.

Vredefort Crater is about 300 kilometers in diameter and is estimated to be about 2 billion years old.

The Chicxulub Crater is about 180 kilometers in diameter and is estimated to be about 66 million years old. It is believed that the impact of the asteroid that created this crater caused a global extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs.

Simple craters are smaller than complex craters and have a raised rim. Complex craters have a central peak and a depressed rim.

Asteroids that are less than 1 kilometer in diameter can create simple craters.

Asteroids that are 10-100 kilometers in diameter can create complex craters.

Asteroids that are more than 100 kilometers in diameter can cause a global extinction event.

Asteroid impacts that create craters larger than 1 kilometer in diameter occur every few millennia.

Simple craters are the most common type of asteroid impact crater on Earth.

Hellas Planitia is about 2,300 kilometers in diameter and is estimated to be about 3.9 billion years old.

The Chelyabinsk Event occurred in 2013 and was caused by a small asteroid that exploded in the atmosphere.

C-type asteroids are the most common type of asteroid in the solar system and are also the most common type to impact Earth.

Basalt is the most common type of rock found in asteroid impact craters.

Olivine is the most common type of mineral found in asteroid impact craters.

Plants are the most common type of fossil found in asteroid impact craters.