Worldwide Impact Craters

[Vulcan59]

Impact craters in Australia.

https://malagabay.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/cratering-australia.pdf

 

[thorbiorn]

Database link update, the Siljan Ring, and the Kaali crater

The Earth Impact Database, mentioned Oct 9, 2007, is still hosted by the University of New Brunswick, but the address is now here:

Site developed and maintained by the Planetary and Space Science Centre University of New Brunswick Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

A screenshot of their map, shows how uneven the finds are:

The clustered finds indicate the picture would be somewhat different, if all were known.

The reason for returning to the thread was interest in a location in Sweden:
The Siljan Ring, Europe's biggest impact crater.
The Grokipedia has:

The Siljan Ring is a prehistoric meteorite impact structure located in Dalarna County, central Sweden, formed approximately 377 million years ago during the Late Devonian period by an asteroid collision that created one of the largest known craters on Earth, measuring about 52 kilometers in diameter and ranking as Europe's biggest impact feature.[1][2]The structure, now heavily eroded over geological time, features a slightly elevated central uplift surrounded by a ring-shaped graben depression that encompasses several lakes, including the prominent Lake Siljan—the largest body of water in the region—and Lake Orsa, connected by a narrow river.[2] This topography remains visible from satellite imagery, highlighting the crater's circular outline amid forested and rural landscapes.[3]Geologically, the Siljan Ring formed in ancient I-type granites dating back 1,700 million years, with the impact event causing extensive fracturing, shock metamorphism, and the emplacement of impact melt rocks like pseudotachylite and vein quartz.[4] Deep drilling efforts, including a 6.8-kilometer borehole in the 1980s at the Gravberg site, have revealed a vertical profile through these granites interspersed with diabase sills, evidence of post-impact hydrothermal activity with fluids heated to 100–300°C in the upper 2 kilometers, and deeper fracture zones indicating water penetration up to over 6 kilometers.[4] Earlier exploratory drilling in the late 1960s provided initial insights into the subsurface, uncovering fractured rocks potentially habitable by ancient microbial life.[2]Scientific studies have further illuminated the site's significance: a 2019 analysis of drill cores identified microbial methane accumulation from hydrocarbons in matured shale source rocks, mobilized by subsurface bacteria.[5] More recently, in 2021, researchers discovered fossilized fungi dating to about 39 million years ago at depths exceeding 500 meters, indicating that the crater's fractures have supported eukaryotic life in the deep biosphere over tens of millions of years.[6] In 2025, investigations revealed unexpectedly high natural methane emissions from the Siljan Ring lakes—up to 300 times greater than typical freshwater systems at certain hotspots—puzzling scientists and raising concerns about underreported greenhouse gas contributions from such geological features.[7] These findings underscore the Siljan Ring's role in understanding ancient impacts, deep biosphere dynamics, and modern environmental processes.

The Wiki for the Siljan Ring has:

The impact event is estimated to have had an energy of 1.94 × 1022 J, with the diameter of the impactor being 5 km.

Curiosity: The ring is located near the place of todays SOTT Quantum Quirk motive showing Dalhalla amphitheater in Dalarne in Sweden, build in an abandoned limestone mine. From the Grokipedia:​

The site's dramatic 400-meter-long, 175-meter-wide, and 60-meter-deep excavation, shaped by geological forces including a meteor impact that formed the nearby Siljan Ring approximately 380 million years ago, provides a unique backdrop that enhances both visual spectacle and audio clarity.[1][3][4]​

While the Siljan Ring is big, a more recent crater might be more interesting:
The Kaali crater in Estonia dated to the Bronze age

The Wiki for the Kaali crater has:

Kaali is a group of nine meteorite craters in the village of Kaali on the Estonian island of Saaremaa.1 Most recent estimates put its formation shortly after 1530–1450 BC (3237 ± 10 14C yr BP).2 It was created by an impact event and is one of the few impact events that has occurred in a populated area (other ones are: Henbury craters in Australia and Carancas crater in Peru).

According to the theory of more recent impact, Estonia at the time of impact was in the Nordic Bronze Age and the site was forested with a small human population. The impact energy of about 80 TJ (20 kilotons of TNT) is comparable with that of the Hiroshima bomb blast. It incinerated forests within a six km (3.7 mi) radius. 8

Finnish mythology has stories that may originate with the formation of Kaali. One of them is in runes 47, 48 and 49 of the Kalevala epic: Louhi, the evil wizard, steals the Sun and fire from people, causing total darkness. Ukko, the god of the sky, orders a new Sun to be made from a spark. The virgin of the air starts to make a new Sun, but the spark drops from the sky and hits the ground. This spark goes to an "Aluen" or "Kalevan"10 lake and causes its water to rise. Finnish heroes see the ball of fire falling somewhere "behind the Neva River" (the direction of Estonia from Karelia). The heroes head in that direction to seek fire, and they finally gather flames from a forest fire.

The idea of bringing in mythology is useful, but does the bit "and causes its water to rise" refer to another event?