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We found the oldest crater of the impact of the earth’s meteorites in the heart of the Australian western Pilbara region. The crater was formed more than 3.5 million years ago, disclosing the most popular More than a billion years. Our discovery is posted today Nature Communications.
It’s strange enough, it would be the crater where we expected it, and the discovery supports the theory of the birth of the first continent of the Earth.
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First rocks
The oldest rocks on the earth were formed more than 3 million years ago and is found in the nucleus of modern continents. However, geologists still cannot agree on how or why it is formed.
However there is an agreement Early continents were critical for many chemical and biological processes of the earth.
Many geologists believe that these ancient rocks have formed Feathers above the heat He rose above the metal nucleus of the earth, like a wax lava lamp. Others make up Tectonic plate processes It is similar to modern land where the rocks collide and throw each other.
Although these two scenarios are very different, both are encouraged as a result of the loss of heat inside our planet.
We think of a fairly different way.
We posted a few years ago A paper The energy required to make the continents to the Pilbera was outside the ground, making a collision with meteorites with meteorites.
The effects of the enormous materials that explode and the rocks around them were melted, the lower backpacks produced thick “blobs” of the volcanic material. evolved in continental crust.
Our evidence, then, in the chemical composition of small crystals of the mineral mineral, around the size of the sand grain. But to convince other geologists, we needed more persuasive evidence, something that people prefer to see without microscope.
So in May 2021, we started a long PERTTH pause for two weeks, where we found our partners from the Geological Australian Survey of Western Australia (Gswa) To hunt crater. But where do you start?
Pilbara Typical landscape hunting with a typical cones in our GWA reliable vehicles.
Chris Kirkland, Curtin University
SORODIPITED START
Our first purpose was an unusual layer of rock known as the Antarctic Erreka-member, which includes some diameters on the wings of a dome. Antarctica stream member is only 20 meters or thickness, and most of the dark and basaltic lava are sedimentary rocks that are sandwiches of sandwiches.
However, it also has frameworks– Drops formed from the rock thrown during a influence. But these drops were able to travel from a huge impact on the earth anywhere on the earth, now destroyed from a crater.
After consulting GSWA maps and aerial photography, we are located in the center of Pilbara through a sprinkled track to start our search. We parked offroad vehicles and directing our separate paths, more than hope than hope, we agreed to meet an hour later to discuss and take a bite.
Large huts made of rods with a member of the Antarctic creek on the finding site. The farthest rock rocks of the farthest left are basaltos that are located directly on the cones.
Tim Johnson, Curtin University
Notable, when we returned to the vehicle, we all thought we were to find the same thing: chopped cones.
Shatter cones are beautiful branch structures, delicate, are not in badminton shuttlecock. They are the only feature of the shock that can be seen with a pure eye, and can only be done in nature following the impact of meteorites.
We entered our search for more than an hour, what we were looking for. We literally opened the 4Wds doors and we rose to the ground of a large cratering in the old impact.
Unfortunately, after taking some photos and took some samples, we had to go to other sites, but we decided to return as soon as possible. Most importantly, we needed to know how old the old rocked cone was. Did we find the most popular ground crater?
We had.
It is a height of approximately.
Chris Kirkland, Curtin University
There and back again
With some lab research under our belt, we returned to the site in May 2024, in ten days of more detailed evidence.
Small cones were everywhere, developed in most Antarctic stream members, in a hundred hundred meters we entered the mountain slope of Pilb.
Our observations showed that shating above the layer with cones that the thick layer of Basalt was not in impact shock. This caused the impact that it should mean that it should be the same age as the rocks of Antarctica members.
Delicate cones within the Member of Antarctica.
Tim Johnson, Curtin University
We had our age and the record for the oldest crater impact of the earth. Maybe our ideas about the last origin of the continents were not so crazy, many told us.
Serendipity is a wonderful thing. As far as we knew, owners, Nyamal, did not form geologists in front of these amazing features.
Like some Others before usWe argued that the effects of the meteorite had a key role in the geological history of our planet, clearly on our moon and turned on Other planets, moon and asteroids. Now and others have the opportunity to test these ideas based on hard ideas.
Who knows how many ancient kratersi in ancient kernels of other non-known continents? Finding and analyzing our premature land and the role of giant influences will be transformed, we are not all of us to form the lands we live in, but The origin of life him.
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