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World's Largest Asteroid Impacts Found In Central Australia
schwit1 writes Scientists doing geothermal research in Australia have discovered evidence of what they think is the largest known impact zone from an meteorite on Earth. The zone is thought to be about 250 miles across, and suggests the bolide split in two pieces each about 6 miles across before impact. The uncertainty is that the evidence for this impact is quite tentative: "The exact date of the impacts remains unclear. The surrounding rocks are 300 to 600 million years old, but evidence of the type left by other meteorite strikes is lacking. For example, a large meteorite strike 66 million years ago sent up a plume of ash which is found as a layer of sediment in rocks around the world. The plume is thought to have led to the extinction of a large proportion of the life on the planet, including many dinosaur species. However, a similar layer has not been found in sediments around 300 million years old, Dr Glikson said. 'It's a mystery – we can't find an extinction event that matches these collisions. I have a suspicion the impact could be older than 300 million years,' he said."
It wouldn't be surprising if this is true - Australia is already the home of the deadliest form of everything else on this planet.
There was a theory that the Gulf of Mexico is a meteor crater. About 1000 miles across.
Looking at how pockmarked the moon is with well preserved craters, I wouldn't be surprised if large impacts weren't far more frequent than we estimate (on geological timescales). As for the missing sediment from this impact, maybe the dating is wrong?
Would you please stop freaking using imperial units. The rest of the world has moved on, and /. Should of all places be setting an example.
46137
Couldn't resist.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
If they haven't named the craers yet, I suggest we call them Mel Gibson's career.
It was x number years ago. but really we have no clue. But we are Scientists so everything we say is true. But by the way. We built a way to measure years off a flawed systems.
This would certainly explain this, the world's most devastating extinction event.
What about the moon? I thought we had all agreed that its formation was the biggest collision Earth had encountered? It was pretty much the largest that Earth could survive and still be mostly recognizable.
This could likely be it.
Why not just post a story instead of being OT? I mean a new Tails version is actually 'news for nerds' so why post it in a story about an impact crater? Are you saying that this release is so good that it caused an impact crater hundreds of millions of years ago.
Please there is enough stoopid in the world - we don't need it here.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... about 650My ago Earth looked like the planet Hoth (StarWars 5) with the southern ice cap and the northern ice cap almost meeting, a large asteroid hit would produce much dust and give impetus to such and event.
250 miles or 400 km is smaller than the Golf of Mexico crater, the Hudson'bay crater.
Ceci n'est pas une Signature !
It wasn't caused by "Global Warming" and did not cause "Climate Change"!!!!!!!
Ha ha
Not if the asteroid hit between 300 and 600 million years old, and the Permian-Triassic boundary is at 252. The other issue is that people have already looked for signals of impact at the P-Tr boundary- iridium, shocked quartz, spherules like you get with the Chicxulub impact that wiped out the dinosaurs- and found nothing. The leading hypothesis right now is that massive volcanic eruption drove the P-Tr extinction.
Long time ago I have read about. The crater was known about for many years now. But for it to be registered officially as an impact crater, they had to find the impact center and let other scientists review the work. When I read about it, they found the suspected impact center and were preparing for drilling. From the TFA, it seems that they have finally dug up the evidence, but I see no mention of it being officially confirmed.
Crater wasn't found. They have just dug up and analyzed the first samples. No mention of it being "confirmed". Though Wikipedia still lists it as unconfirmed.
For more info see: (excluding the "unconfirmed structures") List of impact craters on Earth, Earth Impact DB , (uncluding the unconfirmed ones) impact craters in Australia.
All hope abandon ye who enter here.