The authors have synthesized 16 years of geological and geophysical studies which document an 85-km-wide impact crater buried 500 m beneath Chesapeake Bay in south eastern Virginia, USA. In doing so, they have integrated extensive seismic reflection profiling and deep core drilling to analyze the structure, morphology, gravimetrics, sedimentology, petrology, geochemistry, and paleontology of this submarine structure. Of special interest are a detailed comparison with other terrestrial and extraterrestrial craters, as well as a conceptual model and computer simulation of the impact. The extensive illustrations encompass more than 150 line drawings and core photographs.

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.

"In 2005 and 2006, an international deep drilling project, conceived and organized under the auspices of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program and the U.S. Geological Survey, continuously cored three boreholes to a total depth of 1.766 km near the center of the Chesapeake Bay impact structure in Northampton County, Virginia. This volume presents the initial results of geologic, petrographic, geochemical, paleontologic, geophysical, hydrologic, and microbiologic analyses of the Eyreville cores, which constitute a step forward in our understanding of the Chesapeake Bay impact structure and marine impact structures in general. The editors have organized this extensive volume into the following sections: geologic columns; borehole geophysical studies; regional geophysical studies; crystalline rocks, impactites, and impact models; sedimentary breccias; post-impact sediments; hydrologic and geothermal studies; and microbiologic studies. The multidisciplinary approach to the study of this impact structure should provide a valuable example for future scientific drilling investigations."--Publisher's description.

"The Chesapeake Bay impact structure is a well-documented example of a small group of multi-layer, marine-target impacts formed in continental shelves or beneath epeiric seas. New sedimentological and stratigraphical data and results--mainly from Chesapeake Bay brim cores (Watkins School, Langley, and Bayside)--are compared to and compiled with key crater core data"--

Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Large Meteorite Impacts and Planetary Evolution held at the Vredefort Dome, South Africa, in Aug. 2008.

"The third volume of the series “Large Meteorite Impacts” provides an updated and comprehensive overview of modern impact crater research. In 26 chapters, more than 90 authors from Europe, the United States, Russia, Canada, and South Africa give a balanced, firsthand account of the multidisciplinary field of cratering science, with reports on field studies, geophysical analyses, and experimental and numerical simulations. Nine chapters focus on structure, geophysics, and cratering motions of terrestrial craters. Recent advances in impact ejecta studies and shock metamorphism are assembled, each with seven chapters, and three chapters extend the scope from a terrestrial to a planetary perspective."--pub. desc.