A Deep Impression Trivia Quiz

Answer: Vredefort Dome

It has been called the Mount Everest of impact craters. The Vredefort Dome, also known as the Vredefort Crater, is a geological feature located near the town of Vredefort in the Free State province of South Africa, about 120 kilometers southwest of Johannesburg. It is the site of the largest and oldest known meteorite impact structure on Earth. The Vredefort Dome was formed about 2 billion years ago when a massive asteroid or comet, estimated to be about 10 kilometers in diameter, collided with the Earth. This impact caused a colossal explosion and left a crater with an estimated original diameter of about 300 kilometers. Over time, geological processes have eroded much of the original structure, leaving a more subtle dome-shaped feature which, however, still measures an impressive 90 kilometers across.

It is not a typical impact crater with raised rims. Instead, it is characterized by a central uplift, where the rocks that were originally beneath the crater floor were pushed upward . In 2005, the Vredefort Dome was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, being cited as 'the site of the world's greatest single known energy-release event.'

Answer: Chicxulub

The Chicxulub crater is a massive impact structure located on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. It is believed that the impact event that created the crater had catastrophic consequences for life on Earth. It is widely considered a key factor in the mass extinction event that led to the extinction of approximately 75% of Earth's species, including most dinosaurs. It marks the end of the Cretaceous period and the beginning of the Paleogene period. The Chicxulub crater was formed approximately 66 million years ago during the late Cretaceous period when a large asteroid or comet, estimated to be about 10 kilometers in diameter, collided with the Earth. It created a crater some 150 kilometres wide The center of the Chicxulub crater is offshore near the town of Chicxulub in the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. The crater's structure extends both onshore and offshore, with a significant portion buried beneath layers of sediment.


The Chicxulub crater was initially identified in the late 1970s through the study of geophysical anomalies in the Yucatán Peninsula. The discovery of a layer of iridium-enriched sediment, known as the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, further supported the hypothesis of a large impact event. The immense energy released during the impact led to the formation of shock waves, wildfires, tsunamis, and the injection of massive amounts of dust and debris into the atmosphere. This resulted in a "nuclear winter" effect, that lasted 15 years causing a significant drop in temperatures and disrupting ecosystems globally.

Answer: Barringer Crater

The Barringer Crater, also known somewhat obviously as Meteor Crater, is a well-preserved impact crater located between Winslow and Flagstaff in the northern Arizona desert of the United States. It was formed approximately 50 000 years ago during the Pleistocene epoch when a nickel-iron meteorite, estimated to be about 50 meters in diameter and weighing several hundred thousand tons, collided with the Earth at a speed of about 70 000 kilometers per hour. The impact excavated a crater about 1 200 meters in diameter and 170 meters deep. The Barringer Crater is well-preserved compared to many other impact sites, largely because of its relatively young age and the arid climate of the region. The crater exhibits a raised rim, a central uplift mound, and a relatively flat crater floor.

The crater is named for Daniel Moreau Barringer, a mining engineer, who, in the early 20th century, first brought scientific attention to it. He was convinced that the crater was the result of a meteorite impact, and he spent many years searching for the supposed large iron mass at the crater's center. Despite not finding a significant metallic mass, the site was eventually recognized as an impact crater. Barringer Crater is of great scientific significance because it provides valuable insights into impact cratering processes and their geological effects.

Answer: Tenoumer

Situated deep within the sands of the Sahara Desert, in the Adrar Plateau in north-central Mauritania in West Africa, lies a nearly perfect circle. It is 1.9 kilometers wide, and sports a rim 100 meters high. This is the Tenoumer Crater. The crater sits in a vast plain of rocks so ancient that they were formed hundreds of millions of years before the first dinosaurs walked Earth.
The tricky question of whether this circle was the remnants of a volcano or was a result of an impact event long occupied scientists.

Detailed examinations of the structure, however revealed that the crater's hardened 'lava' was actually rock that had been melted by a meteorite impact. The crater is relatively young in geologic terms, estimated to have been formed some time between 3 000 to 21 000 years ago. It is relatively well-preserved, although the original rim has eroded over time. The surrounding area exhibits typical features associated with impact craters, such as shock metamorphism in the rocks.

Answer: Pingualuit

In the remote Nunavik region of northern Quebec, Canada, not far from Ungava Bay, lies a crater that has been called the eighth wonder of the world. This is the Pingualuit Crater. Formed by a meteorite impact around 1.4 million years ago, during the Pleistocene epoch, it is a relatively young and nearly perfectly circular crater some 3.44 kilometers in diameter. Unlike some other impact craters, Pingualuit has maintained much of its original form, with well-preserved geological features. It was first spotted by Westerners on 20 June 1943 when the crew of a United States Air Force plane noticed the crater during an aerial reconnaissance. However, World War II and the challenges presented by the crater's remote location meant that the first expedition to explore it only took place in 1950 under Frederick Chubb and Victor Meen. This gave rise to the crater's former name of the Chubb Crater. It was renamed Pingualuit in 1991.

The crater contains a lake about 267 meters deep known as Lake Pingualuit or, as the Inuit people call it, the "Crystal Eye of Nunavik.". It is a sacred place of healing to them. The lake is one of the purest freshwater lakes in the world and its clarity is attributed to the fact that it is fed only by rain and snow, with no inflow or outflow of water. The lake is also exceptionally cold due to its high latitude and has the second-highest water clarity of any lake on the planet, the first being Lake Mashu in Japan.

Answer: Kaali

The Kaali Crater is the largest of a group of nine separate meteorite craters, located in the village of Kaali on the island of Saaremaa in Estonia, known as the Kaali Meteorite Crater Field. This is one of the rare instances where multiple craters are found in close proximity to each other. The Kaali Crater has a diameter of about 110 meters and a depth of around 22 meters. The other craters in the group are smaller and have diameters ranging from 12 to 40 meters. The group was formed by the impact of a meteorite or a group of meteorites and is thought to have happened in the Holocene period. Recent estimations of its age put its formation shortly after 1530-1450 BC. This site is also one of the rare impact events that occurred in a populated area. It is ranked as the eighth youngest of the earth's known impact sites.

The largest crater is filled with water known and is known as Lake Kaali. It is one of the most well-preserved meteorite craters in the world. The formation of the craters greatly influenced local legends and mythology, According to one legend, the craters were formed by a large celestial body falling from the sky, and the event was associated with the origins of the island. The site is considered a unique natural monument and has been designated as a national cultural heritage site by Estonia.

Answer: Lonar Crater

The Lonar Crater is a geological formation located near the town of Lonar in the Buldhana district in the state of Maharashtra, India. Lonar Crater sits inside the Deccan Plateau, the massive plain of volcanic basalt rock created by eruptions some 65 million years ago. What makes the Lonar Crater so fascinating is the fact that it is one of only four known hyper-velocity impact craters in basaltic rock anywhere on Earth, the other three being located in southern Brazil. Scientists believe that the crater was formed after a comet or an asteroid hit the area at a speed of 90 000 km per hour around 35 000 - 50 000 years ago, during the Pleistocene epoch. The most compelling evidence that this crater was caused by a high velocity impact comes from the presence of maskelynite. This is a kind of naturally occurring glass that is only formed by extremely high-velocity impacts.

The Lonar Crater was identified in 1823 by a British officer named C.J.E. Alexander. It has a nearly circular shape with an average diameter of about 1.8 kilometers. It reaches a maximum depth of around 150 meters. The rim of the crater rises about 20 meters above the surrounding plain. The crater contains Lonar Lake. The interesting feature of this lake is that its water is both saline and alkaline in nature, which makes it a saline-soda lake, the only one of its kind in India. The site has been declared a National Geo-heritage Monument.

Answer: Wolfe Creek

At the edge of the Great Sandy Desert, in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, lies the second-largest crater in the world from which fragments of a meteorite have been collected; the Wolfe Creek Crater. Measuring some 880m across and descending to a depth of about 60m, it is one of the best-preserved meteorite impact craters on Earth. Its distinctive rim, which rises to about 35 metres above the surrounding flat sand, is visible in the landscape. The Wolfe Creek Crater was formed relatively recently, geologically speaking, around 300 000 years ago. The impact was caused by the collision of a nickel-iron meteorite, estimated to weigh more than 50 000 tonnes and thought to have been travelling at 15 kilometres a second, with the earth's surface.

Geologists F Reeves and D Hart were the first non-Aboriginal people to come across the crater while conducting an aerial survey of the Canning Basin in 1947 and scientific studies have confirmed its origin. However, the Aboriginal people were well aware of the crater long before this. The crater is known as Janyil in Jaru and as Karntimarlarl in Walmajarri. The traditional people believe this circular crater was formed when a giant mythological snake raised its head from the ground at the time of creation.

Answer: Nordlinger Ries

The town of Nördlingen, in the Swabian Jura region in the state of Bavaria, southern Germany, is quite unusual in that it lies within the Ries Crater or Nordlinger Ries as it is commonly known. This is an impact crater that was formed around 15 million years ago during the Miocene epoch when a large asteroid, estimated to be about 1.5 kilometers in diameter, collided with the Earth. The resultant impact event created a well-preserved circular crater with a raised rim, known as a central uplift. This rim is surrounded by an inner ring and an outer ring. Ries Crater is 26 kilometers in diameter, with a crater rim roughly 200 meters above the depression. Over time, the crater floor has been filled with sediment, forming a relatively flat landscape. Lake Ries, a small lake within the crater, is one of the remnants of the original crater floor.

It was originally assumed that the Ries Crater was of volcanic origin. However, in 1960 Eugene Shoemaker and Edward C. T. Chao proved that the depression was caused by an impact event. The most compelling evidence was the presence of coesite, which, in unmetamorphosed rocks, can only be formed by the shock pressures associated with meteorite impact. The coesite was found in suevite, a rock type that is diagnostic for large impact structures. Nordingen's church of St. George is composed primarily of blocks of suevite. The presence of shocked quartz, a type of deformed quartz crystal that is characteristic of high-velocity impacts, has been identified in the rocks around the Ries Crater. It is a notable feature of Nordlingen that its buildings are embedded with millions of microscopic diamonds. It is estimated that the Ries crater contains more than 72 000 tons of the gemstone formed by the impact.

Answer: Chesapeake Bay

At the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States, near the town of Cape Charles, Virginia, is a buried impact crater known variously as the Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater or the Chesapeake Bay Bolide Impact Crater. This crater is one of the most well-preserved and studied impact structures in the world. The crater was formed about 35 million years ago during the late Eocene epoch when a large asteroid, estimated to be around 10 kilometers in diameter, struck the Earth. The impact created a crater with a diameter of roughly 85 kilometers. The outer rim of the crater extends into the surrounding states of Maryland and Virginia. To add some context to this, the original crater would have been twice the size of Rhode Island and as deep as the Grand Canyon.

The impact event led to the creation of a complex structure with distinct features, including a central peak and a series of concentric rings. It is estimated that it was originally about 1.3 kilometers deep. However, over millions of years, sedimentation and erosion have filled in much of the original crater structure with deposits, including those carried by rivers flowing into the Chesapeake Bay. The existence of the Chesapeake Bay impact crater was first put forward in 1980s based on the discovery of shocked quartz and other impact-related features in the region during drilling for oil exploration. Subsequent research has confirmed the presence of the crater.