{"id":27576,"date":"2025-03-06T18:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T10:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/?post_type=media-release&#038;p=27576"},"modified":"2025-03-12T12:39:51","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T04:39:51","slug":"worlds-oldest-impact-crater-found-rewriting-earths-ancient-history","status":"publish","type":"media-release","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/media-release\/worlds-oldest-impact-crater-found-rewriting-earths-ancient-history\/","title":{"rendered":"World\u2019s oldest impact crater found, rewriting Earth\u2019s ancient history"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Curtin University researchers have <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41467-025-57558-3\">discovered<\/a> the world\u2019s oldest known meteorite impact crater, which could significantly redefine our understanding of the origins of life and how our planet was shaped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The team from Curtin\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/learning-teaching\/science-engineering\/school-of-earth-and-planetary-sciences\/\">School of Earth and Planetary Sciences<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dmp.wa.gov.au\/Geological-Survey\/Geological-Survey-262.aspx\">Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA)<\/a> investigated rock layers in the North Pole Dome \u2014 an area of the Pilbara region of Western Australia \u2014 and found evidence of a major meteorite impact 3.5 billion years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"World\u2019s oldest impact crater found, rewriting Earth\u2019s ancient history\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/y1BiUYWwf_A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Study co-lead <a href=\"https:\/\/staffportal.curtin.edu.au\/staff\/profile\/view\/tim-johnson-abb64fdd\/\">Professor Tim Johnson<\/a>, from Curtin University, said the discovery significantly challenged previous assumptions about our planet\u2019s ancient history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBefore 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,\u201d Professor Johnson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Researchers discovered the crater thanks to \u2018shatter cones\u2019, distinctive rock formations only formed under the intense pressure of a meteorite strike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The shatter cones at the site, about 40 kilometres west of Marble Bar in WA\u2019s Pilbara region, were formed when a meteorite slammed into the area at more than 36,000km\/h.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe know large impacts were common in the early solar system from looking at the Moon,\u201d Professor Johnson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cUntil now, the absence of any truly ancient craters means they are largely ignored by geologists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis study provides a crucial piece of the puzzle of Earth&#8217;s impact history and suggests there may be many other ancient craters that could be discovered over time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Co-lead author <a href=\"https:\/\/staffportal.curtin.edu.au\/staff\/profile\/view\/chris-kirkland-fff48934\/\">Professor Chris Kirkland<\/a>, also from Curtin\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/learning-teaching\/science-engineering\/school-of-earth-and-planetary-sciences\/\">School of Earth and Planetary Sciences<\/a>, said the discovery shed new light on how meteorites shaped Earth\u2019s early environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cUncovering 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,\u201d Professor Kirkland said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt 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\u2019s crust by pushing one part of the Earth&#8217;s crust under another, or by forcing magma to rise from deep within the Earth&#8217;s mantle toward the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt may have even contributed to the formation of cratons, which are large, stable landmasses that became the foundation of continents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u2018A Paleoarchean impact crater in the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia\u2019<\/em> was published in <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41467-025-57558-3\">Nature Communications<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Curtin University researchers have discovered the world\u2019s oldest known meteorite impact crater, which could significantly 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Jeremic"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/27576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/media-release"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/27576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27576"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=27576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}