Ternovka
Key facts
- Country
- Ukraine
- Diameter
- 11 km
- Age
- about 280 ± 10 million years
- Location
- 48.14° N, 33.55° E
Nothing at the surface: the structure lies under the northern outskirts of the city of Kryvyi Rih, in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine.
Ternovka, also called Terny, is an impact structure about 11 km across on the northern outskirts of Kryvyi Rih, a major iron-mining city in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine.
What it hit. The impactor struck ancient crystalline rocks of the Ukrainian Shield, including the iron-rich rocks of the Kryvyi Rih district, more than 2 billion years old. The impact shattered and partly melted these rocks.
Discovery. The structure was recognised in the 1970s during intensive exploration of the iron-ore district, which involved large numbers of boreholes. Geologists found breccias and melt rocks with shock features in quartz and other minerals, confirming an impact. Chemical traces in the impact rocks suggest that the impactor was a chondrite, the most common type of stony meteorite.
Age. Argon dating of the impact rocks gives an age of about 280 million years, in the Early Permian, with an uncertainty of about 10 million years.
Why it matters. Ternovka is one of very few impact structures where the type of impactor has been suggested from chemical traces. It also shows how mineral exploration can reveal hidden craters.
Did you know?
Ternovka lies on the outskirts of the iron-mining city of Kryvyi Rih.
Chemical traces suggest it was made by a chondrite meteorite.
It was found during exploration of the iron-ore district.