Does Earth Have Impact Craters?

Learning Target

• Construct an explanation to describe how geoscience processes have changed Earth's surface at varying time and spatial scales. 

Success Criteria

• I can make observations of the Moon and Earth to determine similarities and differences.

• I can infer the reasons for similarities and differences between the Earth and the Moon.

Questions to Ponder

• What are some ways the Earth and moon are similar?

• What are some ways the Earth and moon are different?

Back to Teams...

• Describe your observations about the craters on the Moon.

• When you looked at the Moon it seemed as if the entire surface was covered with craters.  If the Earth has had impacts as well then why don't we seem to have as many?

Procedures

1. Find a familiar landmark such as your home or school.  Use the navigation tools to explore the nearby area, searching for evidence of craters.

   • Stay in your general area!

2. Record the location of any craters you find using longitude and latitude.  Make a sketch of the crater and label it with the parts you find. (refer back to the crater diagram from the previous lesson)

Scanning For Other Craters

1. Think about other location on Earth where craters may be more visible.  Use Google Earth to investigate as many different areas as you can.

2. Make a note of any evidence you find that a crater or part of a crater is present.  Form a hypothesis as to whether it is an impact crater, volcanic crater, or was formed by some other natural or man-made process.

Back to Teams...

• How many craters did you find on Earth?  How do you know they were craters?

• Where are most of the craters that you found?  Were they on land or in the water?

Famous Craters of the World

Your teacher will assign you a famous crater to investigate.  Locate your crater on Google Earth using the search function, then find out about your crater by doing a brief search on the internet.

Prepare a brief presentation to share your crater with the rest of the class.

Include

• name and location of crater

• approximately when the crater was formed

• what kind of impactor (if known) created the crater

• interesting facts about the crater

• image of the crater

• reference page - at least three resources

List of Famous Craters

• Vredefort crater

• Sudbury crater

• Popigai crater

• Manicouagan crater

• Acraman crater

• Chesapeake Bay crater

• Morokweng crater

• Kara crater

• Beaverhead crater

• Haughton crater

• Kaali crater

• Carancas crater