New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Science News
from research organizations

The craters on Earth

Date:
November 3, 2020
Source:
University of Freiburg
Summary:
A two-volume atlas presents and explains the impact sites of meteorites and asteroids worldwide.
Share:
FULL STORY

Prof. Dr. Thomas Kenkmann, geologist from the University of Freiburg's Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, together with mineralogist Prof. Dr. Wolf Uwe Reimold from the University of Brasilia, Brazil, and Dr. Manfred Gottwald from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) published an atlas providing a comprehensive overview of all known impact craters on every continent. The authors present the more than 200 terrestrial impact sites in high-resolution topographic maps and satellite images, complete with detailed geological descriptions and photographs of the crater structures and their rocks. They also explain the essential details of each impact event.

The formation of craters by asteroid and comet impact has always been a fundamental process in the solar system, explains Kenkmann. As the planets developed along with their moons, these impacts played an important part in accreting planetary mass, shaping the surfaces of planetary bodies, and later also influencing their development. And larger meteorite impacts eventually affected the development of life on Earth.

Today, mapping of what can still be seen of the impact structures on the Earth's surface can be done by satellites in low Earth orbit. From 2010 to 2016, the DLR successfully measured the Earth's surface with the radar satellites of the TanDEM-X mission. The acquired data allowed, for the first time, to derive a worldwide terrain model with a height accuracy of up to one meter. From this global digital elevation model the authors have been able to produce this complete topographic atlas of 600 pages with information about all terrestrial impact craters known to date.


Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Freiburg. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Cite This Page:

University of Freiburg. "The craters on Earth." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 3 November 2020. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201103104725.htm>.
University of Freiburg. (2020, November 3). The craters on Earth. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 18, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201103104725.htm
University of Freiburg. "The craters on Earth." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201103104725.htm (accessed March 18, 2024).

Explore More

from ScienceDaily

RELATED STORIES