A team of scientists has uncovered the oldest meteorite impact crater on Earth in the heart of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. This crater, estimated to be over 3.5 billion years old, surpasses the previous oldest known crater by more than a billion years.
Discovery Highlights
- Location: Pilbara region (Australia), renowned for some of Earth’s oldest rocks.
- Age: More than 3.5 billion years, compared to the former record of 2.2 billion years.
- Publication: The discovery was published in Nature Communications.
Impact Characteristics
- The extreme pressure from the meteorite collision caused the underlying rock to fracture in a branching pattern.
- These fractures left cone-shaped rock fragments with their tapered ends pointing toward the crater’s center, a signature feature of impact events.
Context in Geological History
- The Pilbara region is a treasure trove for geologists, as its ancient rocks (formed over 3 billion years ago) reside in the cores of modern continents.
- Despite these rocks’ antiquity, geologists continue to debate their precise formation mechanisms.
Other Notable Impact Craters
- Barringer Crater – Arizona, United States
- Lonar Crater – Maharashtra, India
- Wolfe Creek Crater – Australia
- Gosses Bluff (Tnorala) – Australia
- Pingualuit Crater – Canada
(Source: Scientific American)
