Scientists believe a newly-discovered crater believed to be the oldest in the world reveals a number of clues to the early days of life on Earth.
A team of researchers at Curtin University’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, along with the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) believe the North Pole Dome Site is the oldest in the world.
The area, a mass of sparse, red rock covered with little vegetation, is found in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Experts now think a major meteorite smacked into it 3.5billion years ago, according to a study published in Nature Communications.
Another major planetary event
Study co-lead Professor Tim Johnson said scientists can look to the moon to know that ‘large impacts’ were common in the days of the early solar system.
Professor Johnson, from Curtin University, said the team of experts looked at so-called ‘shatter cones’, which were formed when the space rock hit the Earth at over 22,000 miles per hour.
Looking at the shatter cones, scientists determined the strike would have been a massive planetary event, with debris sent flying across the globe.
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.’
‘How life got started’
Professor Chris Kirkland, co-lead on the study, said finding more sites like the one at North Pole Dome could be key for further clues about the Earth’s past.
The expert, who is also a member of the team at Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said it could even hold some answers to how life began,
He said: ‘Uncovering this impact and finding more from the same time period could explain a lot about how life may have got started.’
He explained that impact craters ‘created environments friendly to microbial life’ because of features like hot water pools.
Scientific experts have been looking into whether the Earth’s first continent was formed by meteor strikes for some time.
Professor Kirkland said the North Pole Dome site is helpful to experts in understanding how the surface of the Earth was formed.
He added: ‘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’.’
Oldest ever found
Professor Johnson said: ‘Before our discovery, the oldest impact crater was 2.2billion years old, so this is by far the oldest known crater ever found on Earth.’
The previous record find was less recent by over 1billion years compared to the Yarrabubba impact structure. This area was hit by a meteorite 19 to 42 miles across around 2.2billion years ago.
When what is now known as the ‘Yarrabubba impact structure’ was formed by the meteor strike, the Earth was covered in ice.
The impact of this on the environment could have been significant as a crash into a large glaciers would have led to water vapour being thrown into the atmosphere and turning into a greenhouse gas.
University of Wollongong geologist Tim Barrows told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in 2020 that modelling on this was ‘speculative’ and that a likely short-term nuclear winter would not have led to the end of the Earth being covered in ice.
Little in the area suggests its significance with only the Barlangi Rock, a small hill in the centre of the site, being the only significant marker of Earth’s tumultuous past.
Previously, the Vredefort Dome had been the only dated impact structure.
The 2 billion-year-old crater can be found in South Africa and is also the world’s biggest at over 155miles across.
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