Posted on 10/25/2025 4:43:02 PM PDT by Red Badger
Jinlin Crater
A team of scientists has uncovered evidence that a massive asteroid strike created a prominent crater in southern China’s Guangdong province roughly 10,000 years ago, during a period of rapid human development.
The Jinlin crater, situated near Zhaoqing city, marks only the fifth confirmed impact site in China and the very first identified in the country’s southern region. Measuring approximately 2,950 feet across, the tilted, bowl-shaped formation suggests it was formed by an extraterrestrial object roughly 100 feet in diameter, unleashing an explosion comparable to dozens of atomic bombs.
Researchers believe the impact would have had a profound effect on the surrounding environment, reshaping landscapes and potentially influencing local ecosystems.
Jinlin crater offers new insight into prehistoric asteroid collisions The Jinlin crater, recently detailed in the peer-reviewed journal Matter and Radiation at Extremes on October 15, formed after a massive asteroid strike. Chen Ming, a researcher at the Centre for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research and a co-author of the study, explained that the impact released energy equivalent to 600,000 tonnes of TNT – comparable to the destructive force of 40 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs.
Ming noted that a major asteroid impact during this period could have had profound effects on both human populations and the surrounding environment. While asteroid strikes can occur anywhere on Earth, many ancient craters have been distorted, eroded, or buried over time due to tectonic shifts and surface weathering. To date, researchers have identified around 200 impact craters worldwide, with only five confirmed in China, the South China Morning Post reported.
Until now, all four confirmed impact craters in China were located in the northeast, including Baijifeng in Jilin (2023) and Hailin in Heilongjiang (2024). Southern China’s tropical to subtropical climate – with heavy rainfall, heat, and humidity – accelerates chemical weathering, while the region’s long history of tectonic and magmatic activity adds further erosion.
Granite and glass planes confirm southern China crater caused by asteroid To verify that the formation was caused by an asteroid impact, researchers analyzed quartz samples from the site for planar deformation features – microscopic planes of glass that form when a crystal’s lattice structure is shattered under extreme pressure and temperature.
These features can only result from the intense conditions generated by an impact event, impossible under normal Earth-surface conditions. Researchers further explain that the discovery of microscopic deformation features in quartz provides conclusive proof that the Jinlin crater was formed by an asteroid impact.
VIDEO AT LINK................
ocated in a region that receives more than 59 inches of rainfall annually, the site is particularly vulnerable to erosion, especially along the crater’s loose, weathered rim. Although further studies – such as carbon dating – are needed to determine its exact age, the team estimated the crater’s formation period by analyzing its geological structure and the extent of erosion.
Ming also added that while most known craters in China have been found in the northeast, impact sites could exist anywhere across the country. With more dedicated research, he said, new discoveries might emerge from the south to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
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Ping! Bang! Bong!............................
Sure looks volcanic to me, but what do I know.
A Hiroshima/Nagasaki type atomic bomb is about 25-30 Kt (kilotons of TNT). So 25 x 40 = 1000 Kt, to a maximum of 1200 Kt.
Nope.
Little Boy ... exploded with an energy of approximately 15 kilotons of TNT
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Boy
"Fat Man" (also known as Mark III) ... released the energy equivalent to the detonation of 21 kilotons of TNT
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Man
Chen Ming, a researcher at the Centre for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research and a co-author of the study, explained that the impact released energy equivalent to 600,000 tonnes of TNT – comparable to the destructive force of 40 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs.
The first thermonuclear detonation, Ivy-Mike, was over 10 megatons and created a crater over 4000 feet in diameter.
Don’t need dozens. The hyperbole nowadays is disgusting. There is no more truth or real news, just hype to get “clicks.”
That’s a picture of Meteor Crater in Arizona, not the one in China.
Yes.
BTW, there are many craters in US.
Besides the Winslow AZ, I know a very nice one in OH.
Serpent Mound in Adams County, OH.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpent_Mound_crater
Very cool.
No, Hiroshima was 15-20k at most, Nagasaki the same
I recently saw a picture of a crater in Arizona caused by a meteor.
It was remarkable how close it came to hitting the Visitors’ Center.
🎵 Ka-boom, ka-boom, ya da da da da da, ya da da da da da...
Ivy-Mike was an h-bomb, much more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima, and years later.
There’s a small impact crater in Texas, used to be used as an outdoor concert venue.
The larger, and far older examples include Lake Manicougan in Canada.
Likely part of the comet debris strike that burned off 10% of the Earth’s vegetation, and killed the mega fauna, ushering in the Younger Dryas Event.
I understand that. I was in nuke weapons development for over 15 years and spent my entire career, from the age of 18, directly involved in nuclear weapons operation.
Most people just package everything under the rubric of "atomic bombs." They do not, and most have no idea, about the differences between all-fission devices and the fission-fusion-fission devices that are referred to as thermonuclear.
My statement was about the lack of understanding added to terrible hyperbole being used in nearly every post on the Internet to get "clicks." We have had many devices out there that could create a crater that size using just one device.
This was not a slam on you, I was one of your advocates when you were thinking about not posting any more, it was a slam on our current society and the lack of cogent thought as well as a total lack of education.
Seeing this post I immediately remembered a drive my family took across a cratered area in southern Ontario, but I could not remember the name. Then I looked at your link and saw all the Crater links listed there and immediately recognized SUDBURY:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudbury_Basin
This monster Crater was formed almost 2 billion years ago by an object about the size of modern Washington, DC. I remember it took us more than 1/2 hour to drive through it. This was around 1963 before it was officially recognized as a monster impact Crater, but my father started telling us all about it. He read a lot. I could see the impact of the many mines, and the unusual colors of the landscape, like the odd bluish green areas caused by copper deposits. This visit was one of the experiences that formed my interest in Catastrophism. Another happened when I was six years old. I still remember my father showing me the 1944 National Geographic story about a volcano that grew in a cornfield. I was amazed by that.
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