{"dataset":{"slug":"impact-structures","title":"Impact Structures","description":"Terrestrial impact craters left by past impacts.","version":"1.0.0","lastGenerated":"2026-06-29","license":"CC BY-SA 4.0","entityCount":4,"sources":["nasa"]},"entities":[{"id":"impact_structure:barringer-crater","name":"Barringer Crater (Meteor Crater)","type":"impact_structure","domain":"science","description":"The best-preserved impact crater on Earth, gouged out ~50,000 years ago by the Canyon Diablo iron meteorite — the site where the impact origin of craters was first firmly established.","entryPath":"/meteorites/impact-structure/barringer-crater"},{"id":"impact_structure:ries","name":"Nördlinger Ries","type":"impact_structure","domain":"science","description":"A well-studied mid-sized impact crater in Germany whose shocked minerals and impact glass were used by Apollo astronauts as a training ground for recognising impact features on the Moon.","entryPath":"/meteorites/impact-structure/ries"},{"id":"impact_structure:sudbury","name":"Sudbury Basin","type":"impact_structure","domain":"science","description":"One of the oldest and largest known impact structures, whose ancient impact melt hosts some of the world's richest nickel and copper ore deposits.","entryPath":"/meteorites/impact-structure/sudbury"},{"id":"impact_structure:vredefort","name":"Vredefort Structure","type":"impact_structure","domain":"science","description":"The largest confirmed impact structure on Earth, the deeply eroded remnant of a crater formed roughly two billion years ago by one of the largest impacts in the planet's history.","entryPath":"/meteorites/impact-structure/vredefort"}]}