The impact crater is a dry lake bed that contains evidence of ancient water flows and perhaps signs of ancient microbial life.
craters
Posted inNews
Enormous Impact Crater Spotted in Greenland Under Glacial Ice
Ice-penetrating radar revealed a 31-kilometer impact crater—one of the world’s largest—in northwestern Greenland that might have been formed fewer than 20,000 years ago.
Posted inNews
New Simulation Supports Chicxulub Impact Scenario
Mountains ringing the center of Earth’s most famous impact crater consist of porous rocks. Computer models of the impact can now predict those rocks’ microstructure.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Moon’s Magnetic Field May Magnetize Iron That Hits Its Surface
Scientists are using satellite data to study large impact basins on the surface of the Moon that contain magnetic anomalies.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Long Term Preservation of Subsurface Ice on Mars
Layered-ejecta craters on Mars that are associated with impacts into rock mixed with volatiles have been formed throughout the planet’s history indicating the long-term preservation of subsurface ice.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
History of Water on Mars’s Surface Is Longer Than We Thought
Curiosity’s two-step heating experiment of mudstone at Gale crater reveals minerals that formed in the presence of water less than 3 billion years ago.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Space Weathering Asymmetrically Alters Lunar Crater Walls
Directional differences in craters’ optical properties suggest that the solar wind, not tiny meteorites, is the main driver of space weathering on the Moon.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Comparing Craters
An analysis suggests that craters degrade faster on Mercury than the Moon, raising questions about landscape evolution on different planetary bodies.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Meteorites Mix Moon’s Surface at Both Small and Large Scales
A three-dimensional model of material transport suggests that impact cratering can mix lunar soils across distances of more than 100 kilometers.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Ancient Impact May Have Triggered Long-Term Volcanic Eruptions
Scientists revisit Canada’s Sudbury crater in light of new evidence from other planets that suggests an alternative postimpact history.