NASA researchers discovered the world's oldest crater to date. It is billions of years old. The impact could have changed the earth significantly.
- NASA researchers have discovered the oldest asteroid impact in the world to date in Australia .
- It was several kilometers long at that time and hit the earth billions of years ago.
- The time of the impact indicates a significant connection between the asteroid and an ice age on earth .
Perth, Australia - So far, the Vredefort crater in South Africa was the oldest known asteroid impact . However, this is now in second place, because researchers from NASA and the Australian Curtin University identified an impact site that is still many years older: the Yarrabubba crater is said to have originated 2.229 billion years ago. A huge boulder hit the earth 200 million years earlier than the asteroid in South Africa.
Asteroid impact: researchers discover oldest crater
The researchers did not have an easy time of it, because after all these years the crater no longer looks like what you would expect from typical potholes. Weather phenomena such as wind and rain distorted the well-known form and the area with rock remains of the crater now only comprises 20 kilometers instead of the originally assumed 70 kilometers.
In addition, the scientists were no longer able to use molten and crystallized stones , which are often used to determine the age of craters. Instead, they looked for old rocks with the minerals zircon and monazite, which in turn contain uranium and lead. With the help of these elements, the age could finally be dated to 2.229 billion years .
2,229 billion years = the age of the Yarrabubba meteor crater ☄️ in Australia, making it the oldest currently known! A team led by a @NASA_Johnson scientist determined the age by searching for rocks that showed signs of being subjected to a meteor strike: https://t.co/EiK7pUO3ki pic.twitter.com/wgOJvOTYqa
- NASA (@NASA) January 21, 2020Asteroid impact occurred at a special time
How exactly the impact affected the earth and the environment has not yet been answered by NASA in an article about the find. However, the asteroid hit our planet at a special time: When it descended in a remote area of Western Australia today, the first ice caps and glaciers were apparently just emerging. He may have triggered this development. Shortly before the impact, oxygen also formed in the atmosphere .
Incidentally, scientists recently discovered a supposed “mega-earth” that could turn space research upside down. In addition, another asteroid could hit Earth in 2022.
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