Top 10 Largest Impact Craters on Earth

Two billion years ago, a space rock the size of a city slammed into what is now South Africa. The scar is still there. The largest impact craters on Earth are proof that our planet has been hit, hard, many times.

But most are hard to spot. Erosion, forests and even oceans hide them. This guide ranks the 10 biggest, explains what made them, and shows which ones you can actually visit.

Aerial view of an eroded ring structure, one of the largest impact craters on Earth Caption: Many of the largest impact craters on Earth survive only as eroded rings, best seen from the air or space.

Key Highlights and Quick Facts

• Scientists have confirmed 194+ impact structures on Earth, according to the Earth Impact Database (2024).
• Vredefort in South Africa is the largest confirmed one, at about 160 km across and roughly 2 billion years old.
• Chicxulub in Mexico, about 150 km wide, is linked to the dinosaur extinction 66 million years ago.
• Three of the top 10 are in Australia, and two each are in Canada and South Africa.
• Several giants, like Chicxulub and Talundilly, are completely buried under rock or sediment.
• In 2026, an amateur astronomer helped find a new 25 km crater in Quebec (NASA Earth Observatory, 2026).
• Want an easy crater visit? Arizona’s Meteor Crater is small but open daily, 8 AM to 5 PM.

The Top 10 Largest Impact Craters on Earth

Sizes below are estimated original rim diameters from the Earth Impact Database. Because these sites are ancient and worn down, different studies can give different numbers.

1. Vredefort Crater — South Africa

Size: ~160 km | Age: ~2,023 million years

This is the king. Vredefort is the largest and one of the oldest confirmed craters on Earth, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2005. The crater itself has eroded away, but the uplifted “dome” in the middle remains.

Visit tip: Base yourself in Parys, Free State, about a 1.5-hour drive from Johannesburg. You can hike, canoe the Vaal River and explore old mine tunnels (South African Tourism).

2. Chicxulub Crater — Mexico

Size: ~150 km | Age: ~66 million years

This is the one that ended the dinosaurs. A roughly 10 km asteroid hit the Yucatán Peninsula and triggered a global catastrophe.

You can’t see the crater itself — it’s buried. But a curved ring of cenotes (natural sinkholes) near Mérida traces part of its edge. That makes swimming in a cenote a quiet way to stand on top of history.

3. Sudbury Basin — Canada

Size: ~130 km | Age: ~1,849 million years

Here’s a fun twist: this ancient impact made Sudbury, Ontario, one of the world’s great nickel and copper mining regions. The crash helped concentrate metals that miners still dig up today.

Visit tip: Sudbury’s Dynamic Earth science centre explains the geology and mining story.

4. Popigai Crater — Russia

Size: ~100 km | Age: ~35.7 million years

Hidden in remote northern Siberia, Popigai is famous for impact diamonds. The shock of the collision turned graphite into tiny diamonds. Sadly, it’s very hard for visitors to reach.

Ring-shaped Lake Manicouagan impact crater in Quebec seen from orbit Caption: Manicouagan in Quebec is one of the easiest large impact craters on Earth to spot from space.

5. Manicouagan Crater — Canada

Size: ~100 km | Age: ~215 million years

Astronauts call this the “Eye of Quebec.” A ring-shaped reservoir, Lake Manicouagan, now fills the eroded crater. NASA says it’s very easy to spot from orbit (NASA, 2024).

Visit tip: Drive Route 389 north from Baie-Comeau to reach the area and the huge Manic-5 dam.

6. Acraman Crater — Australia

Size: ~90 km | Age: ~580 million years

Found near Lake Gairdner in South Australia, Acraman hit when life on Earth was still mostly simple and soft-bodied. Debris from the blast has been traced hundreds of kilometres away.

7. Talundilly Crater — Australia

Size: ~84 km | Age: ~125 million years

Talundilly is buried deep under sediment in outback Queensland. Scientists found it using drilling and geophysics, not by looking at the surface. It’s a reminder that many big craters are still hiding.

8. Morokweng Crater — South Africa

Size: ~70 km | Age: ~146 million years

Buried under the Kalahari sands, Morokweng is special for one reason: drillers found a piece of the actual impactor preserved in the melted rock. That almost never happens.

Lake Siljan ring in Dalarna Sweden, formed by an ancient meteorite impact Caption: Sweden’s Siljan Ring is the largest impact crater in Europe and a popular summer destination.

9. Siljan Ring — Sweden

Size: ~65–75 km | Age: ~381 million years

This is Europe’s largest known impact crater. Today, a ring of lakes marks its edges in Dalarna, central Sweden. It’s also the most tourist-friendly crater on this list, with lakeside towns, cycling paths and the Dalhalla open-air concert venue in an old quarry.

10. Tookoonooka Crater — Australia

Size: ~66 km | Age: ~123 million years

Another buried Queensland giant. It likely hit a shallow sea, which may have caused huge waves. Russia’s Kara crater (~65 km) misses this spot by just a kilometre.

Important Statistics Table

Crater	Country	Diameter	Age	Visible Today?
Vredefort	South Africa	~160 km	2,023 million yrs	Partly (eroded dome)
Chicxulub	Mexico	~150 km	66 million yrs	No (buried)
Sudbury	Canada	~130 km	1,849 million yrs	Partly (basin)
Popigai	Russia	~100 km	35.7 million yrs	Yes (remote)
Manicouagan	Canada	~100 km	215 million yrs	Yes (ring lake)
Acraman	Australia	~90 km	580 million yrs	Partly
Talundilly	Australia	~84 km	125 million yrs	No (buried)
Morokweng	South Africa	~70 km	146 million yrs	No (buried)
Siljan Ring	Sweden	~65–75 km	381 million yrs	Yes (ring of lakes)
Tookoonooka	Australia	~66 km	123 million yrs	No (buried)

Source: Earth Impact Database data as compiled in 2024. Sizes vary between studies.

How to Tell If a Crater Came From Space (Step-by-Step)

Not every round hole is an impact crater. Volcanoes and sinkholes look similar. Here’s how geologists check.

1. Spot a circular feature. Satellite images often show a ring, a round lake or a central hill.
2. Look for a central uplift. Big impacts make the ground rebound, leaving a raised centre.
3. Search for shatter cones. These cone-shaped fracture marks in rock form only under extreme shock. They’re the field geologist’s favourite clue.
4. Check for shocked quartz. Under a microscope, quartz grains show criss-cross lines from huge pressure.
5. Test for impactor traces. High levels of metals like iridium can point to space rock material.
6. Get it confirmed. Experts publish findings, and the crater joins lists like the Earth Impact Database.

Real example: in Quebec’s new Uhackatik crater, the team clinched the case by finding shatter cones in October 2025 (NASA Earth Observatory, 2026).

Which Impact Craters Can You Visit?

Crater	Ease of Visit	Best For	Nearest Base
Vredefort	Easy	Hiking, river trips, UNESCO fans	Parys, South Africa
Siljan Ring	Easy	Summer holidays, cycling, concerts	Rättvik / Mora, Sweden
Sudbury	Easy	Science centre, mining history	Sudbury, Canada
Chicxulub (cenotes)	Moderate	Swimming, Maya history	Mérida, Mexico
Manicouagan	Hard	Road trips, dam tours	Baie-Comeau, Canada
Popigai	Very hard	Expedition scientists only	Remote Siberia

Bonus pick: If you just want to see a crater bowl, go to Meteor Crater in Arizona, USA. It’s only about 1.2 km wide, but it’s beautifully preserved, with a museum and guided rim walks. It’s open daily from 8 AM to 5 PM. Check the official site for current ticket prices.

Pros and Cons of Crater Tourism

Pros	Cons
Real-life geology lesson you can walk on	Big craters are often too eroded to “see” as a bowl
Many sites sit in beautiful, uncrowded nature	Some are remote or on private land
Vredefort and Siljan have hotels and tours	Buried craters (like Chicxulub) need context to enjoy
Great for families, students and photographers	Few have on-site guides or signage

Our honest take: go to Siljan or Vredefort for the landscape and the story, and go to Meteor Crater for the “wow, that’s a hole from space” moment.

2026 News and Trends

A new crater, found by an amateur. In September 2026, NASA Earth Observatory reported the Uhackatik impact structure in Quebec’s Côte-Nord region. It’s about 25 km wide and around 390 million years old. Amateur astronomer Joël Lapointe first noticed the circle on satellite images in 2024 while planning a camping trip. Formal approval from a Meteoritical Society committee is still pending.

Planetary defence gets real. NASA’s DART spacecraft hit the asteroid moon Dimorphos in 2022 and changed its orbit. ESA’s Hera mission is targeting arrival at the Didymos system in late 2026 to study the aftermath and learn how to reliably nudge an asteroid (ESA, 2026).

The list keeps growing. The confirmed count has passed 190 and continues to rise as satellite imagery, drilling data and citizen scientists find new candidates.

Asteroid approaching Earth illustrating planetary defence against future impacts Caption: Missions like DART and Hera study how to stop the next asteroid from creating a new impact crater on Earth.

Conclusion

The largest impact craters on Earth are scars from the most violent days in our planet’s history. Some are buried, some hold lakes, and a few are waiting for your next road trip. Start with Vredefort or Siljan, and you’ll never look at a round lake the same way again.

References

1. Earth Impact Database (Planetary and Space Science Centre, University of New Brunswick) — via List of impact structures on Earth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_impact_structures_on_Earth
2. SERC Carleton College — Earth Impact Database resource: https://serc.carleton.edu/resources/20712.html
3. NASA Earth Observatory — An Accidental Impact Crater Discovery (2026): https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/an-accidental-impact-crater-discovery/
4. ScienceDaily — A strange circle on satellite maps turned out to be a 390-million-year-old impact crater (2026): https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260921081101.htm
5. NASA Science — Manicouagan Impact Crater from Space (2024): https://science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2024-may-25-manicouagan-impact-crater-from-space/
6. ESA — Hera targets early arrival at Didymos asteroids: https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera/ESA_s_Hera_targets_early_arrival_at_Didymos_asteroids
7. USGS — Chesapeake Bay impact structure: A blast from the past: https://www.usgs.gov/publications/chesapeake-bay-impact-structure-a-blast-past
8. South African Tourism — Vredefort Dome: https://www.southafrica.net/et/en/travel/article/vredefort-dome-a-meteor-s-lasting-impression
9. World Heritage Site — Vredefort Dome listing: https://www.worldheritagesite.org/list/id/1162
10. Meteor Crater — Official visitor guide: https://meteorcrater.com/meteor-crater-arizona-visitor-guide/
11. Meteor Crater — Admission: https://meteorcrater.com/shop/admission/
12. Visit Arizona — Meteor Crater Natural Landmark: https://www.visitarizona.com/directory/meteor-crater-natural-landmark/
13. Phys.org — Hera aces a massive engine burn on its way to Didymos (2026): https://phys.org/news/2026-03-hera-aces-massive-didymos.html

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