Difference between Caldera and Crater?

Question

What is the visual difference between the two? How would you tell the difference between a caldera and a crater caused by an impact? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

A CALDERA is a large depression in a volcano formed either by the collapse of the top of a composite volcano after an explosive eruption, or from the collapse of the top of a shield volcano after the magma chamber is drained.

A CRATER is a steep walled depression located at the summit of a volcano. A crater can also be produced by a metorite impact.

Answer 2

Craters And Calderas

Answer 3

Hi. A caldera is HUGE compared to a single volcano. An impact on Earth gets wiped out by environmental forces fairly quickly. It may well be that an impact can create a caldera if enough of the Earth's crust gets pushed away.

Answer 4

the bigest difference that i can think of between the two is that a caldera will always have an active lava pool at its base where as a crater be it from an impactor or an volcano will be solid rock in active calderas are nothing more than craters

Answer 5

A crater, from whatever impact, is usually dry... 'caldera' is another way of saying geyser or hot-pot hole [think: Yellowstone] and is usually something that happens from underground sinks and high-pressure underground hotsprings. If it squirts, steams and stinks - it's a caldera. If it just sits there in the sunshine, it's a crater. If it gets filled up eventually, it becomes Crater Lake!

Answer 6

A volcanic crater is a basin that has been blasted out by magma, gases or ejecta. A caldera is usually much larger, and forms when the magma chamber beneath a volcano empties and the land above it collapses into the void.

Answer 7

i think as MARGRET says, there is no difference.