Crater Explorer – My exploration and documentation of craters (presently only on this planet).

My C177B chariot GOZooM, searching for impact craters. Here we explored a crater in Puerto Rico only to find that someone built a radio telescope in it!! Since retirement, I have combined my hobbies of astronomy, geology and flying to explore impact craters and structures in North America from the air and ground.

HOW TO IDENTIFY AN IMPACT STRUCTURE/CRATER

DOCUMENTED CRATERS/STRUCTURES:

1. BARRINGER
2. BEAVERHEAD
3. BRENT
4. CALVIN
5. CARSWELL
6. CHARLEVOIX
7. CLEARWATER EAST/WEST
8. CHESAPEAKE
9. CLOUD CREEK
10. CROOKED CREEK
11. DECATURVILLE
12. DEEP BAY
13. DES PLAINES
14. DOUGLAS
15. EAGLE BUTTE
16. ELBOW
17. FLYNN CREEK
18. GLASFORD
19. GLOVER BLUFF
20. GOW
21. HAVILAND
22. HIAWATHA
23. HOLLEFORD
24. ILE ROULEAU
25. KENTLAND
26. LAC COUTURE
27. MANICOUAGAN
28. MANSON
29. MAPLE CREEK
30. MIDDLESBORO
31. MISTASTIN
32. MONTAGNAIS
33. NEWPORT
34. NICHOLSON LAKE
35. PILOT LAKE
36. PINGUALUIT
37. PRESQU’ILE
38. RED WING
39. ROCK ELM
40. SLATE ISLANDS
41. STEEN RIVER
42. ST. MARTIN
43. SUDBURY
44. VIEWFIELD
45. WANAPITEI
46. WELLS CREEK
47. WEST HAWK
48. WHITECOURT
49. LAC LA MOINERIE
50. HUDSON BAY (NASTAPOKA) ARC

AERIAL CRATER EXPLORATION

EXPLORED CRATERS/STRUCTURES SORTED:
CONFIRMED;
PROBABLE;
PROPOSED;
IMPROBABLE;
NON-IMPACT CIRCULAR STRUCTURE.
ALL STRUCTURES ALPHABETICALLY

IDENTIFY IMPACT EVENTS

RECENT (2025) UPDATES

DATA UPDATE ARCHIVE

CRATER URL REFERENCES

CRATER EXPLORATION ACQUAINTANCES

PERSONAL EXPLORATIONS
MY AMATEUR ADVENTURES IN CRATER EXPLORATION;
VIDEOS OF “STUFF” I HAVE BEEN UP TO IN THE PAST LITTLE WHILE
JOURNAL of the RASC – PINGUALUIT IMPACT CRATER;
SMITHSONIAN – PINGUALUIT IMPACT CRATER;
SKY NEWS – CANADIAN IMPACT CRATERS;
CANADIAN CRATERS;
2001 CRATER TOUR QUEBEC CANADA

EARTH SCIENCE PICTURE OF THE DAY

PHYSICS OF IMPACT CRATER FORMATION

CANADIAN IMPACT CRATERS (1952 Dominion Observatory study)

EXTINCTIONS:
TWO EXTINCTIONS AND THE DINOSAURS;
YOUNGER DYRYAS (yd) Abstracts/Papers

“How bright and beautiful a comet is as it flies past our planet– provided it does fly past it”ISAAC ASIMOV

Comet Hyakutake, taken by Peter Ceravolo March 17, 1996 with film. Later processed by Debra Ceravolo.

“All things originate from one anotherand vanish into another… according to time”~ANAXIMANDER“We, all of us, are what happens when a primordial mixture of hydrogen and helium evolves for so long that it begins to ask where it came from.” Jill Tarter“Civilization exists by geological consent …. subject to change without notice.”

– W. Durant –

The RASC Sesquicentennial Logo featuring the Manicouagan Impact Crater.

Components of the RASC Sesquicentennial Logo:

The aurora borealis is a quintessentially Canadian space-weather phenomenon, one shared with other high latitude cultures. RASC members have contributed to the scientific, historical, and artistic investigation of the northern lights, and have promoted their recreational enjoyment.

The Manicouagan astrobleme (214 ± 1 Ma) represents the major discovery of sites of impact cratering in the Canadian Shield, an effort pioneered by astrophysicists and geophysicists at the Dominion Observatory (ca. 1950-), many of whom were RASC members. This world-impacting research played a crucial role in changing scientific and popular perceptions of crater-forming mechanisms, solar-system history, and planetary geology. The representation of the crater also acknowledges Canadian excellence in meteor dynamics, meteorite petrology, meteorite curation, and the RASC’s long-standing interest in such work.

The stars represent the major Canadian contributions to stellar spectroscopy done at the Dominion Observatory, the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory (also see this), the David Dunlap Observatory,(additionally refer to this) and elsewhere (ca. 1905-), whose major contributors were also RASC members (such as J.S. Plaskett [1865-1941], the first Canadian astrophysicist of international repute). The stars also symbolize the asteroseismology, exoplanet transits and eclipses, and investigations into stellar variability through precise photometry achieved by the Microvariability and Oscillations of STars space telescope(MOST, 2003-).

The globular cluster recognizes the field of Helen Sawyer Hogg‘s (1905-1993) greatest scientific contributions (ca. 1926-ca. 1993), and the Helen Sawyer Hogg Telescope (HSHT) at the University of Toronto Southern Observatory at Cerro Las Campanas, one of Canada’s first ventures (1971-1997) in exploring off-shore astronomical installations, which has born lasting fruit in international cooperative installations exploring the full range of astrophysical phenomena, such as the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT, 1979-), the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT, 1986-2015 [period of direct Canadian involvement & funding]), the Gemini Telescopes (North 1999-, South 2000-), the Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA, 2011/2013-), the Square Kilometre Array (SKA, 2020-), and the Thirty Metre Telescope (TMT, ca. 2022-).

The spiral galaxy represents both the work of Canadian observational cosmologists (e.g., Sidney van den Bergh‘s classification of Galaxy morphology, Laura Ferrarese‘s work on the morphology & dynamics of early type galaxies), as well as the efforts of amateur Canadian observers of deep-sky objects (DSOs), and imagers.

The comet stands for the contributions to cometography by Canadian comet discoverers, such as David Levy, Rolf Meier, and Chris Wilson.

The Moon symbolizes an object important for first nations’ calendrics, and the earliest recorded observations by Europeans in Canada (17th century lunar reports, and lunar eclipse reports). The Moon together with the stars symbolizes the practice of navigational astronomy on land and water, which was crucial to the formation of Canada. Finally, the Moon is as popular an object for RASC members to share with the public when doing outreach as it was 150 years ago.

R.A. Rosenfeld

References

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Beals, C. S., 1968. On the possibility of a catastrophic origin for the great arc of eastern Hudson Bay.

Beals, C.S. & Halliday, I. 1967: Impact Craters of the Earth and Moon, Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Vol. 61, p.295.

Brookfield M.E. 2006, THE GREAT ARC OF EASTERN HUDSON BAY, CANADA: PART OF THE LARGEST MULTIRINGED IMPACT BASIN ON EARTH? (Geological Society of America)

Caty, J.L. et al, 1976, A new astrobleme: Ile Rouleau structure: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v.13.

Cordua, W. S., “The Rock Elm Structure, Pierce County, Wisconsin, a possible cryptoexplosion structure”, Geology, vol. 13, p. 372-374. 1985

Brent Dalrymple,Radiometric Dating Does Work!Reports of the National Center for Science Education

Dence, M. R. 1976 The Manicouagan impact structure. NASA Spec. Pub.

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Dence, Michael R. Structural evidence from shock metamorphism in simple and complex impact craters: Linking observations to theory. Meteoritics & Planetary Science 39. Nr 2, 267-286 (2004).

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Donofrio, Richard R., IMPACT CRATERS: IMPLICATIONS FOR BASEMENT HYDROCARBON PRODUCTION. Journal of Petroleum Geology, 3, 3, pp. 279-302, 1981.

Dressler, B.O. & Sharpton, V.L. 1997: Breccia formation at a complex impact crater: Slate Islands, Lake Superior, Ontario, Canada. TECTONOPHYSICS, 1997 Vol.275, No.4, pp. 285-311.

Dressler et al 1995, New Observations at the Slate Islands Impact Structure, Lake Superior NASA CR-205312

French, B.M. Traces of Catastrophe, Lunar and Planetary Institute, 1998

French, B. M.,The importance of being cratered:The new role of meteorite impact as a normal geological process. Meteoritics & Planetary Science 39, Nr 2, 169–197. 2004.

French, Bevan M. 2005: STALKING THE WILY SHATTER CONE, Impact Field Studies Group, Vol.2. Winter 2005.

French, Bevan M. & Koeberl, Christian 2009; The convincing identification of terrestrial meteorite impact structures: Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA

Gibson, H.M. & Spray, J.G. 1998, Shock-induced melting and vaporization of shatter cone surfaces: Evidence from the Sudbury impact structure, Meteoritics and Planetary Sciences, 33, 329-336.

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Grieve R.A.F. & Robertson P.B. 1975, IMPACT STRUCTURES IN CANADA: THEIR RECOGNITION AND CHARACTERISTICS, JRASC February 1975.

Grieve, R.A.F. et al 2002. The recognition of terrestrial impact structures, Bulletin of the Czech Geological Survey, Vol. 77, No. 4, 253–263.

Grieve, R.A.F. 2006, Impact Structures in Canada (Geological Association of Canada).

Haskin, L et al 1998, The case for an Imbrium origin of the Apollo thorium-rich impact-melt breccias. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 959-975.

Kenkmann, T. et al, 2009, Low angle collision with Earth: The elliptical impact crater Matt Wilson, Northern Territory, Australia, Geology; May 2009; v. 37; no. 5; p. 459-462.

Koeberl, C. & French, B.M. 2009; The convincing identification of terrestrial meteorite impact structures: Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC , USA

Maddock, R.H., 1983. Melt origin of fault-generated Pseudotachylites demonstrated by textures, Geology, Vol 11, no 2.

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Meen V.B. 1957, Merewether Crater – A Possible Meteor Crater, Proceedings of the Geological Association of Canada, 9, 49-67.

Melosh, H.J. 1980. Cratering Mechanics – Observational, Experimental, and Theoretical. the Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences (book), 8, 626p.

Melosh, H. J., 1989. Impact cratering: A geologic process New York, Oxford University Press.

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Murtaugh, J.G. 1972, Shock metamorphism in the Manicouagan cryptoexplosion structure, Quebec. Proc. 24th Int. Geol. Congr.

Moon, Hong-Kyu et al TERRESTRIAL IMPACT CRATERING CHRONOLOGY: A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS J. Astron. Space Sci. 18(3), 191–208 (2001)

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Gordon R. Osinski, and Ludovic Ferrière Shatter cones: (Mis)understood?, Science Advances 05 Aug 2016

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Rayl, A.J.S. 2008; Hayabusa: Itokawa Beckons as Japan’s Spacecraft Searches for Places to Touch Down”.

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Rondot, J., Impactite of the Charlevoix structure, Quebec, Canada. Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 76, pp. 5414-5423. 1971.

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Simonds, C.H. et al 1976, Thermal model for impact breccia lithification: Manicouagan and the moon. Proc. Lunar Sci. Conf. 7th (1976) p. 2509-2528.

Spray J.G. et al. A marine magnetic study of the Ile Rouleau impact structure, Lake Mistassini, Quebec Canada. Meteoritics, 70th Annual Meeting (2007).

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