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  • © 2019

Encyclopedic Atlas of Terrestrial Impact Craters

  • Provides a timely, comprehensive atlas of impact craters on Earth
  • Includes images of all the known terrestrial craters
  • Analyzes the formation and evolution of craters and processes that hide or erase them
  • Offers a tool for the discovery of new, as yet unknown craters

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Table of contents (190 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvii
  2. Chapters

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
    2. Impacting Bodies and Post-impact Modification Processes on Earth

      • Enrico Flamini, Stelvio Staffieri, Mario Di Martino
      Pages 3-5
    3. Origin and Classification of Impacting Objects, and their Effects on the Earth Surface

      • Mario Di Martino, Enrico Flamini, Stelvio Staffieri
      Pages 7-18
    4. Impact Cratering

      • Mario Di Martino, Enrico Flamini, Stelvio Staffieri
      Pages 19-27
    5. Observation from Space: SAR Systems

      • Alessandro Coletta, Maria Libera Battagliere, Maria Virelli
      Pages 41-50
    6. Observation from Space: Optical Systems

      • Bianca Hoersch, Fabrizio Ramoino, Ferran Gascon, Yves-Louis Desnos
      Pages 51-57
  3. Terrestrial Impact Craters List

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 59-59
    2. Amguid, Algeria

      • Mario Di Martino, Alessandro Coletta, Maria Libera Battagliere, Maria Virelli
      Pages 61-63
    3. Aorounga, Chad

      • Mario Di Martino, Alessandro Coletta, Maria Libera Battagliere, Maria Virelli
      Pages 65-67
    4. Aouelloul, Mauritania

      • Mario Di Martino, Alessandro Coletta, Maria Libera Battagliere, Maria Virelli
      Pages 69-71
    5. BP Structure, Libya

      • Mario Di Martino, Alessandro Coletta, Maria Libera Battagliere, Maria Virelli
      Pages 73-75
    6. Bosumtwi, Ghana

      • Mario Di Martino, Alessandro Coletta, Maria Libera Battagliere, Maria Virelli
      Pages 77-79
    7. Gweni-Fada, Chad

      • Mario Di Martino, Alessandro Coletta, Maria Libera Battagliere, Maria Virelli
      Pages 81-83
    8. Kalkkop, South Africa

      • Mario Di Martino, Alessandro Coletta, Maria Libera Battagliere, Maria Virelli
      Pages 85-87
    9. Kamil, Egypt

      • Mario Di Martino, Alessandro Coletta, Maria Libera Battagliere, Maria Virelli
      Pages 89-90
    10. Kgagodi, Botswana

      • Mario Di Martino, Alessandro Coletta, Maria Libera Battagliere, Maria Virelli
      Pages 91-92
    11. Luizi, Democratic Republic of Congo

      • Mario Di Martino, Alessandro Coletta, Maria Libera Battagliere, Maria Virelli
      Pages 93-95
    12. Morokweng, South Africa

      • Mario Di Martino, Alessandro Coletta, Maria Libera Battagliere, Maria Virelli
      Pages 97-99

About this book

This comprehensive atlas explains the genesis and evolution of impact known craters on Earth, presenting a wealth of radar images from the Italian COSMO-SkyMed satellites that were acquired at the same frequency, spatial resolution, operating mode, and illumination, allowing excellent comparison of different impact structures. It also discusses in detail the processes that have hidden or erased terrestrial impact craters, and clearly explains the basic principles of remote sensing and the COSMO-SkyMed system and radar instruments. Also, the optical satellite remote sensing technique used to produce the optical images is described. The main section documents each of the exposed craters officially recognized as caused by meteoritic impact, presenting a table with the COSMO-SkyMed radar image and, where available, a Sentinel optical image and a photograph taken in situ. A short accompanying text reports the location, context, geographical coordinates, and other ancillary information to support future researches.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Italian Space Agency, Rome, Italy

    Enrico Flamini

  • Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino—Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Pino Torinese, Italy

    Mario Di Martino

  • Italian Spce Agency, Rome, Italy

    Alessandro Coletta

About the editors

Enrico Flamini graduated in Physics at Sapienza University of Rome in 1977 and after worked as a researcher at CNR and as ESA Research Fellow at the University of Sussex (UK) on hypervelocity impacts applied to planetary cratering. Since 1985 he had a position at the Italian Space Agency (ASI), with different roles including Director of the Observation of the Universe Department and ASI Chief Scientist. He has been Program Manager for the Italian participation in the Cassini-Huygens, Rosetta-Philae, Mars Express, MRO, Dawn, and Juno missions; Chairman of the lander Philae Steering Committee; Mission Science Director for LARES on the Vega maiden flight; and Hemeritus Principal Investigator of the SIMBIO-SYS experiment on BepiColombo. He has also served as Vice-Chair and Chair of the ESA Science Programme Committee. Presently he is Professor of Solar System Exploration at G. D’Annunzio University, Chieti-Pescara, Italy: Has been awarded with the title of Officer of the NationalOrder of Merit of France and has received the NASA Exceptional Public Service Gold Medal. The International Astronomical Union named an asteroid “18099 Flamini” in recognition of his work in Planetary sciences.

Mario Di Martino is an astronomer at the INAF-Astrophysical Observatory of Turin. His principal research field is the physical study of asteroids, and he has conducted hypervelocity impact experiments at national facilities and the NASA-AMES Research Center with the aim of studying the craterization of the solid bodies of the Solar System and of simulating the catastrophic impacts that occur among asteroids in the main belt. More recently, his interests have focused on impact phenomena on Earth and on the systematic observation of bright meteors (bolides) to determine the orbits of meteoroids that cause them and to define with precision the fall area of meteorites possibly delivered by the observed bolide. He has organized several scientific expeditions in North Africa, Australia, South America, and Siberia devoted to the study of and search for impact craters. He has published more than 200 articles in international scientific journals. He is a member of the International Astronomical Union, which dedicated the name “Di Martino” to the asteroid 3247.

Alessandro Coletta, received his M.Sci. in Physics at University La Sapienza in Rome. He has been the Operative Scientific Manager of the Italian High Energy Astrophysics Mission BeppoSAX (X-ray and Gamma-ray astronomy) and currently he is the Head of Earth Observation at the Italian Space Agency and the Mission Director of the Italian X-band SAR Satellites Constellation COSMO-SkyMed. He was awarded (co-winner) by the American Astronomical Society with the Bruno Rossi Prize 1998 for the Beppo SAX discovery of the X-ray and optical afterglow of the Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRB) phenomenon, a discovery which made possible the solution of the more than 30 years long-lasting problem of GRB sources distances. He is the author of the first popular book on Gamma-Ray Bursts “Il Secondo Big-Bang” (CUEN, 2000).

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access