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World's oldest meteorite impact crater found, rewriting Earth's
ancient history
Curtin University researchers have discovered the world's oldest known meteorite impact crater, which could significantly redefine our
understanding of the origins of life and how our planet was shaped.
"A Paleoarchean impact crater in the Pilbara Craton, Western
Australia" is published in Nature Communications.
https://phys.org/news/2025-03-world-oldest-meteorite-impact-crater.html
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March 6, 2025
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World's oldest meteorite impact crater found, rewriting Earth's ancient history
by Curtin University
World's oldest meteorite impact crater found, rewriting Earth's ancient
history Field photographs of rocks on the flanks on the North Pole Dome.
Credit: Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57558-3
Curtin University researchers have discovered the world's oldest known
meteorite impact crater, which could significantly redefine our
understanding of the origins of life and how our planet was shaped.
"A Paleoarchean impact crater in the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia" is
published in Nature Communications.
The team from Curtin's School of Earth and Planetary Sciences investigated
rock layers in the North Pole Dome—an area of the Pilbara region of
Western Australia—and found evidence of a major meteorite impact 3.5
billion years ago.
Study co-lead Professor Tim Johnson, from Curtin University, said the
discovery significantly challenged previous assumptions about our planet's
ancient history.
"Before our discovery, the oldest impact crater was 2.2 billion years old,
so this is by far the oldest known crater ever found on Earth," Professor
Johnson said.
Researchers discovered the crater thanks to "shatter cones," distinctive
rock formations only formed under the intense pressure of a meteorite
strike.
The shatter cones at the site, about 40 kilometers west of Marble Bar in
WA's Pilbara region, were formed when a meteorite slammed into the area at
more than 36,000km/h.
This would have been a major planetary event, resulting in a crater more
than 100km wide that would have sent debris flying across the globe.
World's oldest impact crater found, rewriting Earth's ancient history
Schematic stratigraphic log through North Pole Dome crater and overlying
sequence. Credit: Nature Communications (2025). DOI:
10.1038/s41467-025-57558-3
"We know large impacts were common in the early solar system from looking
at the moon," Professor Johnson said.
"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."
Co-lead author Professor Chris Kirkland, also from Curtin's School of
Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the discovery shed new light on how
meteorites shaped Earth's early environment.
"Uncovering this impact and finding more from the same time period could
explain a lot about how life may have got started, as impact craters
created environments friendly to microbial life such as hot water pools,"
Professor Kirkland said.
"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."
More information: A Paleoarchaean impact crater in the Pilbara Craton,
Western Australia, Nature Communications (2025). DOI:
10.1038/s41467-025-57558-3. www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-57558-3
Journal information: Nature Communications
Provided by Curtin University
Citation: World's oldest meteorite impact crater found, rewriting Earth's
ancient history (2025, March 6) retrieved 18 March 2025 from
https://phys.org/news/2025-03-world-oldest-meteorite-impact-crater.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the
purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without
the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes
only.
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Get Instant Summarized Text (Gist)
The discovery of the world's oldest known meteorite impact crater in the
Pilbara Craton, Western Australia, dates back 3.5 billion years,
significantly older than the previous record of 2.2 billion years. This
finding challenges existing views on Earth's ancient history and suggests
that early meteorite impacts may have influenced the planet's crust
formation and created environments conducive to microbial life. The impact
likely resulted in a crater over 100 km wide, with shatter cones as
evidence of the intense pressure from the meteorite strike. This discovery
highlights the potential for uncovering more ancient craters, offering
insights into Earth's early environment and the origins of life.
This summary was automatically generated using LLM. Full disclaimer
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