Sunday, September 12, 2021

The meteor craters of Earth

Click any image to enlarge

Above is one of the craters in the Kaali Meteorite Crater Field on Saaremaa Island, Estonia. There are a total of nine meteor craters in the area which were formed 7600 years ago when a meteorite broke up after entering the atmosphere. The largest impacted with a force of 20 kilotons of TNT (slightly larger than the Hiroshima a-bomb). Needless to say, there was widespread destruction in the area. The Kalevala, the Finnish national epic, has descriptions of fire falling from the sky which destroyed houses and fields as well as killing numerous people which might be a memory of the meteor strike.   

Below are images of more meteor craters from the Amusing Plant post The Most Visually Impressive Impact Craters on Earth. The first is the Kamil crater in the Egyptian desert. It is young, 5,000 years old, and because of its location it has not yet eroded badly so you can even see the ejecta rays. The others are older and have been more heavily eroded.



No comments: