'Unequivocal Evidence' of the Age of Earth's Oldest Impact Crater Turns Out to Be Off by Half a Billion Years
Researchers used two mineral dating methods to confirm the crater formed about 3.024 billion years ago, making it Earth’s oldest known impact site.
- On Tuesday, Curtin University researchers dated the North Pole Dome crater in Western Australia to 3.024 billion years ago, confirming it as Earth's oldest known impact structure.
- Earlier studies suggested the Miralga impact structure's age ranged between 3.47 billion and 2.77 billion years, creating scientific uncertainty about when the impact occurred.
- Professor Chris Kirkland's team used 'mineral clocks' in zircon and apatite crystals that recrystallized during the intense heat of the asteroid strike to determine the precise impact date.
- The crater remains the only recognized impact from the Archean Era, offering scientists a rare glimpse into violent geological processes that shaped early Earth.
- Although Earth preserves fewer craters than the Moon due to plate tectonics and erosion, this impact shows how ancient collisions drove hot fluids that influenced early microbial ecosystems.
18 Articles
18 Articles
A rocky area in northwestern Australia could keep the oldest impact scar known on Earth. A study published in Geology magazine dated in 3,024 million years the event that would have formed the structure of North Pole Dome, in the Pilbara region, and profiled it as the only impact crater identified so far for the Arcaic eon, a very early stage in the history of the planet. The question that attempted to answer the work was simple in appearance: w…
Earth’s oldest crater really is over 3 billion years old, new study confirms
Romolo Tavani/Getty ImagesIn the Pilbara of Western Australia, some of Earth’s oldest rocks lie beneath the sky, as they have for billions of years. They are dark, weathered volcanic rocks, close to 3.5 billion years old, cut by veins and stewed by deep time. Their survival is remarkable. Most rocks this old have moved back into Earth’s interior. These ones, still on the surface, have changed, but not enough to erase their first story. In places…
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 54% of the sources are Center
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
