Britannica
Sources used in this answer
What are megaterraces in very large impact basins?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Meteorite crater
Four impact craters of the same size (30 km [20 miles] in diameter) imaged by spacecraft on different solid bodies of the solar system and reproduced at the same scale. They are (clockwise from upper left) Golubkhina crater on Venus, Kepler crater on the Moon, an unnamed crater on Jupiter's moon Ganymede, and an unnamed crater on Mars. The images are oriented such that the craters appear illuminated from the left; the Venusian crater is imaged in radar wavelengths, the others in visible light.
In the study of meteorite craters, megaterraces are defined as discrete, inward-facing, and widely spaced faults that develop well outside the initial excavation cavity of a crater.1
These features are specific to very large impact structures known as impact basins. While smaller complex craters feature terraces formed by downward faulting along the inner rim of the initial cavity, the formation of megaterraces represents a more extensive structural modification associated with the largest scale of impact events.1