Talk:Impact crater

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	This article is supported by the Moon WikiProject. This project provides a central approach to Moon-related subjects on Wikipedia. Please participate by editing the article, and help us improve articles to good and 1.0 standards, or visit the wikiproject page for more details.
Start	This article has been rated as Start-Class on the quality scale.
High	This article has been rated as High-priority on the priority scale.
This article has been rated but has no comments. If appropriate, please review the article and leave comments here to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article and what work it will need.

	Earth sciences Portal Impact crater is part of WikiProject Geology, an attempt at creating a standardized, informative, comprehensive and easy-to-use geology resource. If you would like to participate, you can choose to edit this article, or visit the project page for more information.
B	This article has been rated as B-class on the quality scale.
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the importance scale.

The great majority of craters on the Earth are volcanic craters, rather than impact craters, even if impact craters tend to arouse the most interest. I added a disambig about volcanic craters at the top of this page, but I'm not sure that's enough. Maybe there should be a general crater page, with links to separate impact crater and and volcanic crater (or caldera) pages. After all, there is something to be said about craters in general, if anything because its often not easy to tell the origin of a specific crater.--Pharos 19:52, 20 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Hm... You're right, the current split is somewhat unsatisfactory. Calderas are a specific type of volcanic crater, so I don't think there's an article that addresses volcanic craters in general. I'm going to do some conservative tinkering to start with; I'm going to start a volcanic crater article and see what fits in there. Bryan 08:38, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

---

Since Meteor crater redirects here, should the disambig statement at the top of the article mention the Barringer crater, as its most common name is simply "The Meteor Crater"? — Asbestos | Talk 09:32, 14 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Surely the correct title here is Impact crater and Crater should be a disambiguation, including Caldera, and also Krater, BTW. Just logic. --Wetman 08:38, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Krater? As in the Greek vases? — Asbestos | Talk 09:38, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I think this Crater should be moved to Impact crater, then Meteor crater could be a disambiguation that includes Barringer Crater and Impact crater. Also this article currently includes Ramon crater which is formed from karst erosion and not impact nor other explosive event. Could Crater (disambiguation) be a dab for all possible kinds of craters (Impact crater, Caldera, electrical discharge, explosion, erosional)? -Wikibob | Talk 00:58, 2005 Mar 14 (UTC)

I have just done these moves and changes:

• moved Crater to Impact crater
• added this disambig to Meteor crater:

Meteor crater can refer to Impact crater, a pit-like landform created by a body impacting the topography, or Meteor Crater can refer to the common name for the Barringer Crater in Arizona.

• added this disambig to Crater:

A crater is a landform resembling a pit or depression in the topography, and can be formed in several ways. For the constellation, see Crater (constellation).

A meteorite impact with another body can cause an impact crater, an electrical discharge such as lightning may form a crater-like pit, volcanic activity may form a Volcanic crater or caldera, erosion may form depressions such as the karstic Ramon Crater, and a mine explosion or a bomb may form a crater.

• disambiguated some redirects to Impact crater

-Wikibob | Talk 14:33, 2005 Mar 20 (UTC)

Tweaked formatting of the disambiguation pages. Gosh, lots of pages that link to meteor crater should point to impact crater. Anyone with a 'bot wish to clean this up? It's too daunting for me. --- hike395 15:48, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Meteor Crater (with capitalized C) is a specific name and redirects to Barringer Crater, which is appropriate. "Meteor crater" (with lower-case c) is generic, so I've made it a redirect to Impact crater.--Pharos 17:34, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 Intro Paragraph 2 crater lakes 3 Floor-fractured craters 4 Most simple craters are circular? 5 Edit confusion? 6 Location of Chesapeake impact crater 7 New user attempting a major expansion 8 Crater types? 9 Science facts?

[edit] Intro Paragraph

Since this article is about impact craters, isn't it out of place for the opening paragraph to discuss alternate causes of craters such as vulcanism and electrical discharge? I think if we mention them we should reference their pages. --zandperl 15:31, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)

As there was no protest, I have removed the other types of craters from the intro paragraph since there's a link to the disambig page above it.

--zandperl 04:00, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

someone has removed the "link to the disambig page above it" Bejnar 22:22, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] crater lakes

I removed this sentence in the introduction: "In the center of craters on Earth a crater lake often accumulates, and a central island or peak (caused by rebounding crustal rock after the impact) is usually a prominent feature in the lake." It was misleading because impact crater lakes are not common at all (I know of one impact crater in Africa (Bosumtwi crater in Ghana) which is filled by a lake) --Cjackb 04:45, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

---

• Current text: "Ancient craters whose relief has disappeared leaving only a "ghost" of a crater are known as palimpsests." This does not sufficiently introduce the specialized usage of "palimpsest" which means—I think— a crater that has been partially obliterated by subsequent impact events, not one that has simply "disappeared". --Wetman 07:20, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

A palimpsest (impact crater) is a crater that is obliterated by subsequent impact, erosion or isostasic activity -- it isn't limited to only subsequent impact events. -- hike395 07:45, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Floor-fractured craters

This article could use a discussion of floor-fractured craters. I.e. impact craters that have been subsequently modified by a volcanic uplift of the interior, creating fracture lines. (Typically found on the Moon.) Anybody interested? :-) — RJH (talk) 21:05, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Most simple craters are circular?

I have done a bit of research and am fairly confident so I added a note to the article saying that Simple craters are generally circular except for extremely low impact angles. However, I could not really find a good web-based link for this point so I added a link to "The Straight Dope" which is certainly not a very good source for this. The Straight Dope article references a 1992 article in The Journal of GeoPhysical Research, but unfortunately only back issues to 1994 are available on the web. If someone can come up with a better link, please update my link. (or, if necessary, refute it). Here's another (better?) ref: http://fgms.home.att.net/sudbury.htm Dzubint 23:08, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Edit confusion?

I just did a tiny edit, but when I saved it a large amount of editing was attributed to me. I don't know where it came from so I reverted it all. Possibly someone else was editing at the same time and things got confused. I apologize if this wrecked someones edit. Please try again. Zamphuor 06:51, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Location of Chesapeake impact crater

I changed the location of this crater from Maryland, US to Virginia, US. The corresponding WP page seems to indicate that the crater is in Virginia, and this USGS link http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/epubs/bolide/ancient_cataclysm.html explicited states that the crater is centered under Charles City, VA. Xymmax 15:33, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] New user attempting a major expansion

I am new to Wikipedia - this is my first attempt to make a serious contribution. Guidance with the process and the etiquette of making major changes would therefore be welcome. It is my intention to try to lead the rewriting of this article so that it provides a significantly more comprehensive introduction to impact craters and impact cratering. Maybe sections something like the following:

(1) History

(2) Crater formation and impact processes

(3) Structure, morphology and geology

(4) Ejecta

(5) Impact craters on earth

(6) Impact craters around the solar system

(7) Wider significance and everything that doesn't fit elsewhere

Under (5) there could be an introduction to about ten of the most significant terrestrial impact structures including Chicxulub, Sudbury, Vredefort, Meteor, Ries, Chesapeake, Manicouagan, Popigai maybe, plus a discussion of how impact craters are identified.

Under (7), impacts and extinctions, early life, transport of life between planets, impact hazard, economic significance, early earth, the moon-forming impact, shock waves in solids, and the effect of atmospheres on meteoroids, are possible topics.

Comments and suggestions?... Mrwarn 16:41, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Crater types?

Should there be a section describing the various types of craters?

• Microcrater
  
• Simple crater
  
• Complex crater
  
• Elongate crater
  
• Peak-ring crater
  
• Multi-ring basin
  
• Impact basin
  

Eroica (talk) 14:53, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Science facts?

Check out my username. Um there is not enough scientific evidence for Sout Pole Basin to be even classified as an impact crater.--Murriemir (talk) 18:26, 12 June 2008 (UTC)