crater

Dictionary: cra·ter (krā'tər) pronunciation

A bowl-shaped depression at the mouth of a volcano or geyser.
1. A bowl-shaped depression in a surface made by an explosion or the impact of a body, such as a meteoroid.
2. A pit; a hollow.
Variant of krater.

v., -tered, -ter·ing, -ters.

v.tr.
To make craters in: "The missiles did not . . . crater the airfield" (Tom Clancy).

v.intr.

To form a crater or craters.
Slang.
1. To fall and crash violently from a great height.
2. To fail utterly: "talked about how tough times were in Texas since the oil business cratered" (Stephen Coonts).

[Latin crātēr, from Greek krātēr, mixing vessel.]

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: crater

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Circular depression in the surface of a planetary body. Most craters are the result of impacts of meteorites or of volcanic explosions. Meteorite craters are more common on the Moon and Mars and on other planets and natural satellites than on Earth, because most meteorites either burn up in the Earth's atmosphere before reaching its surface or erosion soon obscures the impact site. Craters made by exploding volcanoes (e.g., Crater Lake, Ore.) are more common on the Earth than on the Moon, Mars, or Jupiter's moon Io, where they have also been identified.

For more information on crater, visit Britannica.com.

US Military Dictionary: crater

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n.the pit, depression, or cavity formed in the surface of the earth by an explosion. In the case of a deep underground burst, no rupture of the surface may occur See camouflet.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

Geography Dictionary: crater

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A circular depression around the vent of a volcano. Craters form the summit of most volcanoes. They occur where lava overflows and hardens or where the walls collapse as the magma sinks down the vent after an eruption. Funnel-shaped craters are typical of stratovolcanoes, such as Mt. Bromo, Java, while kettle-shaped craters, like that of Halemaumau, Hawaii, are characteristic of shield volcanoes.

Archaeology Dictionary: crater

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[Ar]

A large vessel used during classical times on festive occasions for containing wine or a mixture of wine and water.

Columbia Encyclopedia: crater

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crater, circular, bowl-shaped depression on the earth's surface. (For a discussion of lunar craters, see moon.) Simple craters are bowl-shaped with a raised outer rim. Complex craters have a raised central peak surrounded by a trough and a fractured rim.

Many of the largest craters are formed by the impact of meteorites. Impacting at speeds in excess of 10 mi/sec (16 km/sec), a meteorite creates pressures on the order of millions of atmospheres, producing shock waves that blast out a circular hole and often destroy the meteorite. Meteor, or Barringer, Crater, near Winslow, Arizona, c.³/₄ mi (1¹/₅ km) in diameter and 600 ft (180 m) deep, is probably the best-known crater of this type. Of the more than 160 impact craters identified on earth, the largest are at Manicouagan, Quebec; Vredefort, South Africa; and Chicxulub (off the coast of the Yucatán peninsula), Mexico. Others include the Chesapeake Bay impact crater, Virginia; Chubb Crater, Quebec; Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana; Brent Crater, Ontario; and Kebira, SW Egypt. Two sizable impact events occurred in the 20th cent., both in Siberia. In 1908 in the Tunguska Basin near Lake Baykal one occurred that caused vast destruction of timber from its blast, and the other in 1947 at Sikhote-Alin also caused great damage. Craters that have been obliterated by erosion over thousands of years, leaving only a circular scar on the earth's surface, are called astroblemes.

Craters are also commonly formed at the surface opening, or vent, of erupting volcanoes, particularly of the type called cinder cones, where the lava is extruded rather explosively. Virtually all volcanoes display a crater, called a sink, around the vent; this is believed to be a collapse feature caused by molten lava subsiding as an eruption phase diminishes. Volcanic craters formed in these ways are relatively small, usually less than 1 mi (1.6 km) in diameter, and represent only a small fraction of the cone's diameter at the base. A caldera is a much larger crater, typically ranging from 3 to 18 mi (5-30 km) in diameter, and represents a considerable fraction of the volcano's basal diameter. In a few instances, however, tremendous volcanic eruptions have left calderas 50 mi (80 km) or so, such as that that forms much of Yellowstone National Park or the basin of Lake Toba, Sumatra, Indonesia. Most calderas are formed by the collapse of the central part of a cone during great eruptions. A few small calderas have been formed by explosive eruptions in which the top of a volcano was blown out. Some volcanic craters are created by a combination of these events. Formed thousands of years ago, the caldera that contains Crater Lake, Oreg., is 6 mi (9.7 km) in diameter. In recent times, caldera-producing eruptions occurred at Krakatoa, Indonesia, in 1883 and Katmai, Alaska, in 1912.

See also tektite.

Bibliography

See P. Hodge, Meteorite Craters and Impact Structures of the Earth (1994).

Cosmic Lexicon: Crater

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(see Impact): A hole or depression. Most are roughly circular or oval in outline. On Earth most natural craters are of volcanic origin. On the Moon most are of impact origin.

Military Dictionary: crater

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(DOD) The pit, depression, or cavity formed in the surface of the Earth by an explosion. It may range from saucer shaped to conical, depending largely on the depth of burst. In the case of a deep underground burst, no rupture of the surface may occur. The resulting cavity is termed a "camouflet."

Word Tutor: crater

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IN BRIEF: n. - A bowl-shaped depression formed by the impact of a meteorite or bomb; A bowl-shaped geological formation at the top of a volcano.

Tutor's tip: The "creator" (someone who creates something) created that "creature" (a person or other animal) in the "crater" (a large cavity in the ground caused by a heavy impact).

Wikipedia: Crater

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Look up crater in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Crater may refer to:

In landforms:

Impact crater, caused by two celestial bodies impacting each other, such as a meteorite hitting a planet
Volcanic crater or caldera, formed by volcanic activity
Subsidence crater, from an underground (usually nuclear) explosion
A maar crater, a relief crater caused by a phreatic eruption or explosion
pit crater, a crater that forms through sinking of the surface and not as a vent for lava
Crater Lake (disambiguation)
Explosion crater, a hole formed in the ground produced by an explosion near or below the surface

Other:

Crater, California, in Inyo County
Cratering, when reindeer dig for lichens that sustain them in winter months
Crater (constellation)
Joseph F. Crater, a New York judge who mysteriously and famously disappeared in 1930
An alternate ancient name for the Crathis, a river of southern Italy
Crater (Yemen)
A map in the FPS Warrock.

		Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
		Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
		US Military Dictionary. The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
		Geography Dictionary. A Dictionary of Geography. Copyright © Susan Mayhew 1992, 1997, 2004. All rights reserved. Read more
		Archaeology Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more
		Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more
		Cosmic Lexicon. Copyright 1996 Planetary Science Research Discoveries. Read more
		Military Dictionary. US Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Words, 2003. Read more
		Word Tutor. Copyright © 2004-present by eSpindle Learning, a 501(c) nonprofit organization. All rights reserved. eSpindle provides personalized spelling and vocabulary tutoring online; free trial. Read more
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