Science
Scientists Stunned By 3.5 Billion-Year-Old Crater Holding Earth’s Earliest Secrets
Important hints regarding Earth’s early history may be hidden in a recently found impact crater in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
The North Pole Dome site, which dates back an incredible 3.5 billion years, is thought to be the oldest impact crater ever discovered by researchers from Curtin University and the Geological Survey of Western Australia.
A huge meteorite travelling at more than 22,000 miles per hour once struck the location, which is a desolate area of red rock with minimal flora.
A report that was published in Nature Communications claims that the impact was so strong that it caused debris to fly all over the earth.
According to the original news published by Curtin University, study co-lead Professor Tim Johnson clarified that violent impacts, similar to those observed on the moon today, influenced Earth’s early history.
Johnson stated, “Until now, the absence of any truly ancient craters means they are largely ignored by geologists.”
“This study provides a crucial piece of the puzzle of Earth’s impact history and suggests there may be many other ancient craters that could be discovered over time,” he continued.
Researchers looked at “shatter cones”—unusual rock formations that are only formed when a meteorite strikes the Earth with tremendous force—to verify the impact. It is clear from these formations that the area was sculpted by a catastrophic event billions of years ago.
Another study lead, Professor Chris Kirkland, thinks findings like these may help explain the origins of life on Earth.
According to Kirkland: “Uncovering this impact and finding more from the same time period could explain a lot about how life may have got started.”
He went on to say that meteor strikes might have produced hot water pools and other conditions that were favourable for microbial life, which might have been essential to the planet’s early biological evolution.
Additionally, the revelation changes how scientists think about the formation of the Earth’s crust. According to Kirkland, the impact might have set off geological processes that shaped the first stable landmasses, or cratons.
Kirkland explained: “It also radically refines our understanding of crust formation: the tremendous amount of energy from this impact could have played a role in shaping early Earth’s crust by pushing one part of the Earth’s crust under another, or by forcing magma to rise from deep within the Earth’s mantle toward the surface,”
“It may have even contributed to the formation of cratons, which are large, stable landmasses that became the foundation of continents,” he stated.
Prior to this discovery, the 2.2-billion-year-old Yarrabubba structure in Western Australia was the oldest known impact crater.
This new discovery provides a new understanding of Earth’s chaotic past by pushing the record back by over a billion years. In order to learn more about the planet’s early history, scientists are now hoping that additional research may reveal even more ancient craters.
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