Posted on 03/23/2015 5:53:18 PM PDT by Utilizer
A 400 kilometre-wide impact zone from a huge meteorite that broke in two moments before it slammed into the Earth has been found in Central Australia.
The crater from the impact millions of years ago has long disappeared. But a team of geophysicists has found the twin scars of the impacts – the largest impact zone ever found on Earth – hidden deep in the earth’s crust.
Lead researcher Dr Andrew Glikson from the ANU School of Archaeology and Anthropology said the impact zone was discovered during drilling as part of geothermal research, in an area near the borders of South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
“The two asteroids must each have been over 10 kilometres across – it would have been curtains for many life species on the planet at the time,” said Dr Glikson.
The revelation of such ancient violent impacts may lead to new theories about the Earth’s history.
“Large impacts like these may have had a far more significant role in the Earth’s evolution than previously thought,” Dr Glikson said.
The exact date of the impacts remains unclear. The surrounding rocks are 300 to 600 million years old, but evidence of the type left by other meteorite strikes is lacking.
(Excerpt) Read more at anu.edu.au ...
Silly me. I searched ‘Wolf Creek crater’ and it’s in western Australia, a meteorite impact, and only 875 meters wide.
Never mind.
Cordwainer Smith story...mother Hinton’s (something) kittons...
the kittens were not cats but a vicious animal that would fight each other to death... and motherHitton cared for them. They were kept in a coma but if the planet was attacked, they were woken up and their thoughts and emotions broadcast at the attackers, who then went crazy and killed each other.
the planet was named Norstrillia because it resembled that area on earth.
Thank you both so much! This question nags at me every once in a while- I probably have asked here before.
Surprised I never thought it was by him. I loved Smith as a kid.
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