Nuclear Blast Crater

Nuclear Blast Crater from first nuclear testing at Nellis Air Force Base bombing range.

That is a serious crater. I bet that made a bang!!

For those interested in Nuclear blasts, there are three different kinds of nuclear explosions

1. Surface burst
2. Subsurface burst
3. Air burst

Each has its own tactical purpose and each brings a unique form of devastation.

The air burst is the form that creates the phenomenon of a mushroom cloud. When the bomb detonates at altitude, it slams air into the ground causing it to rebound into the air. There is very little evidence of a crater with this type of bomb. Essentially it scrubs the ground clean in the blast zone, killing and destroying with the blast wave and radiation.

The Subsurface burst is used for underground, hardened targets. Deep bunkers such as those at Cheyenne Mountain in the US, and the larger ICBM silos in the former Soviet Union. There is typically a small crater where the device enters the ground, and there can be a large subduction area where the ground collapses after the detonation, but there will be little cloud to evidence the blast.

The surface burst creates a massive crater, as most of the force of the detonation is transmitted directly into the ground, and can be considered the most devastating of the three types of detonations. for instance, a 5 megaton device will leave behind a crater roughly a mile and a half wide and half a mile deep. While this material is ejected from the crater, it does not typically travel miles into the atmosphere. Much of it is vaporized. A cloud of sorts is created by the detonation, but it is more like an inverted bowl and is short lived as what ejecta is not vaporized falls back to earth rather quickly.

Not sure which this one was but it wasnt an airburst.

the sedan crater is the worlds biggest man-made explosion

in terms of size, the sedan crater is merely a hair follicle in comparison to the enormous acne scars we call impact craters. however it's still a monster in its own right and is a reminder of the u.s. government's attempts back in the 60s to research the peaceful and constructive non-military use of nuclear explosives. as a result of 'operation plowshare', the yucca flats region of the nevada test site is still to this day peppered with craters similar to, but smaller than

There are some great pictures and videos of the crater on the following site

Source - http://deputy-dog.com/2009/06/worlds-largest-man-made-explosion.html