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They usually refer to the same kind of feature. “Impact crater” is the broader scientific term for a landform made when an object strikes a planetary surface. “Meteorite crater” is a traditional or descriptive name for an impact crater associated with a meteorite impact—not a separate kind of crater. The key distinction is that meteorite names material that survives to the surface, while impact crater names the geological feature and how it formed.
What is the difference between an impact crater and a meteorite crater?
The terms are not two competing geological categories. “Impact crater” describes the crater by its origin: a high-energy collision with a solid surface. “Meteorite crater” commonly describes an impact crater in connection with a meteorite impact. NASA’s glossary cross-references meteorite-crater terminology with meteorite-impact crater terminology, reflecting that overlap.
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“Impact crater” is the more useful broad term because the impactor need not be a meteorite that reached the ground intact. NASA describes lunar craters formed by asteroids, meteoroids, or comets, and impact craters occur on planets and moons beyond Earth.
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Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →What does “meteorite” mean?
A meteorite is solid material from space that survives passage through an atmosphere and reaches a planetary or lunar surface. The word describes surviving material, not the crater itself. An asteroid or comet may be the source body; a meteoroid is a smaller object in space; a meteor is the visible atmospheric event; and a meteorite is what makes it to the ground. NASA’s Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science team defines meteorites in this surviving-material sense.
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Does a meteorite have to be left behind?
No. A crater can form even if no recognizable meteorite fragment is recovered. The impactor and target rock can be broken, melted, or vaporized by the collision; the crater-forming process does not depend on finding a surviving piece. That is why “impact crater” is more precise when discussing the landform without making a claim about recovered material.
How does an impact crater form?
A fast-moving impactor compresses and fractures the ground, excavates material, and may melt or vaporize rock. Ejecta is thrown outward. The disturbed ground then collapses or rebounds as the crater develops. NASA describes lunar crater formation in broad excavation and modification phases.
Simple and complex craters
Small craters are often simple, bowl-shaped depressions. Larger craters may have a central uplift or rings, along with modified rims, as the excavated ground rebounds and collapses. The final form depends on factors including the impactor and the geology of the target surface; not every crater looks like a neat circular bowl.
How can scientists tell whether a crater came from an impact?
A circular depression alone is not proof. Scientists assess the geological setting and look for a combination of clues; which clues remain depends on the site and its history. Evidence can include:
- ejecta or other structures consistent with material blasted out of a crater;
- impact melt or meteorite fragments;
- shocked rocks, including features such as shatter cones; and
- tektites, glassy material formed during an impact and transported from the site.
Old craters may be eroded or buried, so their original surface form can be difficult to recognize. At the Chesapeake Bay impact structure, tektites found during drilling helped reveal the impact origin even though the crater is not obvious at the surface.
Examples show why the terms overlap
| Feature | What it illustrates | Source-stated detail |
|---|---|---|
| Meteor Crater (Barringer Crater), Arizona | A well-preserved terrestrial impact crater, also commonly called a meteorite crater. | NASA describes it as about 1.2 km across and about 170 m deep; NASA Space Place gives its age as about 50,000 years. |
| Vredefort, South Africa | An ancient, very large impact structure on Earth. | NASA Space Place describes it as almost 200 miles across and more than 2 billion years old, and calls it the largest known impact crater on Earth. |
| Tycho, Moon | A lunar impact crater, demonstrating that the broad term is not limited to Earth or to recovered meteorites. | NASA Space Place estimates its age at about 108 million years. |
| Chesapeake Bay impact structure | An impact structure whose origin was helped to establish by evidence beneath the surface. | Tektites found during drilling helped reveal its impact origin; the crater is not obvious at the surface. |
These descriptions and figures come from NASA’s What Is an Impact Crater?, Moon Craters, Meteors and Meteorites: Facts, Asteroid Day and Impact Craters, and NASA’s technical report on meteorite pits and impact evidence. The cited measurements and ages are NASA’s stated descriptions, not a single standardized comparison of the sites.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How many impact craters are on Earth?
Counts vary by source and are not timeless exact totals. NASA’s Meteors and Meteorites: Facts page says about 190 known impact craters on Earth, while NASA’s Asteroid Day and Impact Craters page gives 188. Treat these as source-specific counts rather than as two definitions of a crater or a single current census.
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