Striated, conical, nested fracture pattern that has apparently occurred in response to shock waves of the magnitude (2–25 GPa) generated by a meteorite impact. Individual cone shapes may vary from less than a centimetre to several metres in size. The apices of the cones tend to point towards the centre of impact. Shatter cones were first discovered by R. S. Dietz in the 1940s and have been observed at many postulated impact crater sites, e.g. the Sudbury Structure, Ontario, Canada; the Ries and Steinheim Basins, southern Germany; and Gosses Bluff, Australia.