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Guided map tour · Space & Technology
66 million years ago, a 10–15 km asteroid struck the Yucatán Peninsula at ~20 km/s. The impact released 10 billion Hiroshima bombs of energy, creating a…
Open this tour on the live map →66 million years ago, a 10–15 km asteroid struck the Yucatán Peninsula at ~20 km/s. The impact released 10 billion Hiroshima bombs of energy, creating a 180 km crater now buried under limestone. The resulting "impact winter" — years of darkness from ejected debris — wiped out 76% of all species, including non-avian dinosaurs. The crater…
On June 30, 1908, a massive explosion flattened 2,150 km² of Siberian forest — 80 million trees — near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River. The blast was ~15 megatons (1,000× Hiroshima) but left no crater. Scientists believe a 50–80 meter asteroid or comet fragment exploded 5–10 km above the surface (an "airburst"). The remote location meant…
On February 15, 2013, a 20-meter asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere at 66,000 km/h and exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia with the force of 500 kilotons (30× Hiroshima). The shockwave damaged 7,200 buildings and injured 1,500 people — mostly from broken glass. It was the first major impact event captured by hundreds of dashcams and…
Barringer Crater (Meteor Crater) in Arizona is the best-preserved impact crater on Earth. A 50-meter nickel-iron asteroid struck 50,000 years ago at ~45,000 km/h, creating a 1.2 km wide, 170 m deep crater. The impact energy was ~10 megatons. NASA used this site to train Apollo astronauts for the Moon. The crater is privately owned and…
The Vredefort structure in South Africa is the largest verified impact crater on Earth — originally ~300 km in diameter, formed 2.02 billion years ago by an asteroid estimated at 10–15 km across. The impact was so powerful it created a multi-ring basin now deeply eroded. The central uplift is visible as the Vredefort Dome, a UNESCO World…
The Sudbury Basin in Ontario, Canada was created 1.85 billion years ago by a 10–15 km asteroid. The 250 km structure is now one of the world's richest mining districts — the impact melted rocks containing nickel, copper, and platinum-group metals. Sudbury produces 10% of the world's nickel supply. The basin also contains "shatter cones"…
The town of Nördlingen, Bavaria sits inside a 24 km impact crater created 14.8 million years ago. The medieval town walls are built from suevite — rock created by the impact's extreme heat and pressure. The crater was long thought to be volcanic until 1960, when Dr. Eugene Shoemaker proved its impact origin by finding coesite (a…
The Manicouagan reservoir in Québec, Canada fills a 100 km ring-shaped impact crater formed 214 million years ago. Visible from space as the "Eye of Québec," it is one of the oldest and largest well-preserved craters on Earth. The impact may coincide with the end-Triassic extinction event. The reservoir now serves as a massive…
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Write down two facts you learned about this place.
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Find this place on a blank map: which country and continent is it in?
Write down two facts you learned about this place.
Why does this place matter? Explain in one or two sentences.