Meteors made of iron withstand the stress better than those of stone. Even an iron meteor will usually break up as the atmosphere becomes more dense, around 5 to 7 miles up. A meteor sometimes explodes above the surface, causing widespread damage from the blast and ensuing fire. This happened in 1908 over over Siberia . Craters on Earth form much as they would on the moon or any rocky planet.
Smaller objects create simple, bowl-shaped craters.
The largest impacts form basins in which multiple rebounds form several inner peaks. In ancient times, objects in the night sky conjured superstition and were associated with gods and religion. But the misunderstandings about meteors lasted longer than those of most celestial objects. Others thought the gods were displaying their anger. Many scientists were skeptical that stones could fall from the the clouds or the heavens, and often they simply didn't believe the accounts of people who claimed to have seen such things.