Page "Impact crater" Paragraph 3

The cratering records of very old surfaces, such as Mercury, the Moon, and the southern highlands of Mars, record a period of intense early bombardment in the inner Solar System around 3. 9 billion years ago.

Since that time, the rate of crater production on Earth has been considerably lower, but it is appreciable nonetheless ; Earth experiences from one to three impacts large enough to produce a 20 km diameter crater about once every million years on average.

This indicates that there should be far more relatively young craters on the planet than have been discovered so far.

The cratering rate in the inner solar system fluctuates as a consequence of collisions in the asteroid belt that create a family of fragments that are often sent cascading into the inner solar system.

Formed in a collision 160 million years ago, the Baptistina family of asteroids is thought to have caused a large spike in the impact rate, perhaps causing the Chicxulub impact that may have triggered the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.