Scientific find dating back 3.5 billion years could rewrite history

Meteorites have been crashing into Earth for billions of years. And for many years scientists have believed that the oldest crater in the world dates back 2.2 billion years. Considering the Earth is around 4.5 billion years old, that meteorite smashed into the planet half its life ago. But now, researchers say they have found an older impact crater on Earth, and it could change the way we understand the planet’s history (Picture: Curtin University)

The new finding, dating back a staggering 3.5 billion years, suggests that the world was previously hit by huge impacts that science is yet to unravel. And that the building blocks of life may have come from outer space. Or the craters left behind by the intense pressure of a strike by a meteorite (Picture: Nature)

Dr Tim Johnson, from Curtin University, said: ‘We know large impacts were common in the early solar system from looking at the Moon. 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' (Picture: Nature)

So how can this finding rewrite history? The researchers suggest that it could help us discover the environments where early life thrived, as well as the continents that it thrives on today. Professor Chris Kirkland, also from Curtin, said: ‘Uncovering 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’ (stock image) (Picture: Getty)

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’ (stock image) (Picture: Getty)

So where is the crater based? Researchers found it in the ‘very heart’ of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. They found the crater due to ‘shutter cones’, which are distinctive rock formations only formed under the intense pressure of a meteorite strike. The ones at the site were formed when a meteorite slammed into the area at more than 36,000km/h. This would have been a major planetary event, creating a crater that's more than 100 km wide (stock image) (Picture: Getty)

Now, researchers are hoping to find more. Earth is riddled with impact craters. For example, the largest impact crater is the Vredefort crater in South Africa. It is around 300 km in diameter, and is thought to have been created around 2 billion years ago. Then there is the Chicxulub crater on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago that is 180 km wide. So far, we have found around 200 craters on Earth in total (stock image) (Picture: Getty)