These features were caused by the collision of
meteors (consisting of large fragments of
asteroids) or
comets (consisting of ice, dust particles and rocky fragments) with the Earth. For eroded or buried craters, the stated diameter typically refers to the best available estimate of the original
rim diameter, and may not correspond to present surface features. Time units are either in
ka (thousands) or
Ma (millions) of years.
10 ka or less Less than ten thousand years old, and with a diameter of or more. The EID lists fewer than ten such craters, and the largest in the last 100,000 years (100 ka) is the
Rio Cuarto crater in
Argentina. However, there is some uncertainty regarding its origins and age, with some sources giving it as < 10
ka while the EID gives a broader < 100 ka. the
Campo del Cielo () could be in the legends of some
Native Argentine tribes, while
Henbury () has figured in
Australian Aboriginal oral traditions. field map s } The EID gives a size of about for Campo del Cielo, but other sources quote . The source of the enormous
Australasian strewnfield (c. 780
ka) is a currently undiscovered crater probably located in Southeast Asia. , , }
1 Ma to 10 Ma , , From between 1 and 10 million years ago. The large but apparently craterless
Eltanin impact (2.5 Ma) into the
Pacific Ocean has been suggested as contributing to the glaciations and cooling during the Pliocene. }
10 Ma or more Most recorded impact craters are over 10 million years old, or have widely uncertain ages. The
Chicxulub impact has been widely considered the most likely cause for the
Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction, and the
Manicouagan impact has been less definitively linked to the
Adamanian-Revueltian turnover and a possible marine extinction event. Some scholars have linked other impacts like the
Popigai impact in Russia and the
Chesapeake Bay impact to later extinction events, though the causal relationship has been questioned. , , , , , , , == Inferred impact events ==