Gold miners discovered a massive meteor crater three miles wide that formed about 100 million years ago in remote Australian regions.
- A meteor crater has been discovered in the western Australian outback
- The crater extends over three miles and was formed 100 million years ago
- The team found shooting cones at the site, a sign of a meteor impact
- These are formed from high pressure and high velocity shock waves produced by a large impacting object
Gold miners found a huge meteor crater in the western Australian outback that was created about 100 million years ago.
Using electromagnetic surveys, the researchers were able to create images of the impact site, called Ora Banda Crater, below the surface to determine that it extends over three miles.
Sight cones were recovered from the ground formed by the high-speed and high-pressure shock waves from the impact of a large object – “telltale signs of a meteor impact”.
Ancient plant material has also been discovered in the sediments, which will be further analyzed for microscopic pollen to obtain a more accurate date of when the hole was filled.
Gold miners found a huge meteor crater in the western Australian outback that was created about 100 million years ago. Using electromagnetic surveys, the researchers were able to create images of the impact site below the surface to determine that it extends over three miles
Miners were working near the historic mining town of Ura Panda in Gold Fields, northwest of Kalgoorlie Boulder, when they discovered seemingly out of place rocks.
“The Ora Panda crater was somewhat a gift,” said geologist and geophysicist Dr. Jason Myers.
The geologists who were working on it were drilling holes for gold, and they saw some very unusual rocks.
They had an idea in the back of their minds that this didn’t fit with anything else they saw and thought this might be the result of a meteorite impact.
Pointing cones were recovered from the site, which were formed from a high-pressure, high-velocity shock wave produced by a large object impacting – “telltale signs of a meteor impact”
Miners were working near the historic mining town of Aura Panda in Gold Fields, northwest of Kalgoorlie Boulder, when they discovered seemingly out of place rocks.
He told ABC that “depending on its location, levels of erosion and some soil filling the sides, we estimate that it may be around 100 million years old.”
The team discovered deposits containing ancient plant material that paleontologists will analyze for microscopic pollen that can reveal when the box is full.
Curtin Myers University is helping and researching droplets of glass with zircon and other metals affixed to imaging funnels, in hopes of determining a more accurate date of when the effect will occur.
Although the team estimates that the crater is 100 million years old, they said it most likely occurred between 250 million and 40 million years ago.
Zircon and other materials deep in the hole that were vaporized and recrystallized may also shed light on when the event occurred, according to resource reports.
“The energy released upon the asteroid collision will be greater than the energy collected from every atomic test ever conducted,” Myers told Resource.ly.
Curtin Myers University is helping and researching glass droplets with zircon and other metals affixed to imaging funnels in the hope of determining a more accurate date of when the impact occurred.
Ancient plant material has also been discovered in the sediments, which will be further analyzed for microscopic pollen to obtain a more accurate date of when the hole was filled.
However, the Or Banda crater is five times larger than the famous Wolfe Creek Crater in Australia located in the north of the state. Wolf Creek formed from a meteor that is estimated to have collided with Earth 300,000 years ago
If this crater is struck during the Cretaceous period, it will have no effect on the age of the dinosaurs, which fell victim to an asteroid that left a crater that collided about 90 miles in what is now the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula about 66 million years ago.
However, the Or Banda crater is five times larger than the famous Wolfe Creek Crater in Australia located in the north of the state.
Wolf Creek formed from a meteor that is estimated to have collided with Earth 300,000 years ago.
The meteorite left a massive 2,890-foot hole in the ground, which is what can be seen on the surface.
It is believed to be the second largest hole in the world.
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