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View Full Version : Oldest Impact Crater on Earth Discovered.....



MMC
07-01-2012, 03:22 AM
http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/9YMj1TuBlB78p_uZ0vWUBw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9NDQ3O2NyPTE7Y3c9NTUwO2R4PTA7ZH k9MDtmaT11bGNyb3A7aD0xNTU7cT04NTt3PTE5MA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_US/News/SPACE.com/Oldest_Impact_Crater_on_Earth-36a8225996360fe5901370bd8ad6b18c

The world's oldest meteorite crater —a giant impact zone more than 62 miles wide — has been found in Greenland, scientists say.

Scientists think it was formed 3 billion years ago by a meteorite 19 miles (30 kilometer) wide — which, if it hit Earth today, would wipe out all higher life. The crater is so wide that it would reach the edge of space 62 miles (100 km) above Earth if stood on end.

The crater was "discovered" at an office in Copenhagen by scientist Adam Garde as he pored over maps showing nickel and platinum abundance in the target region of West Greenland. "This single discovery means that we can study the effects of cratering on the Earth nearly a billion years further back in time than was possible before," McDonald said.Before this discovery, the oldest crater was thought to be 2 billion years old, and 186 miles wide (300 km), located in South Africa.

Scientists suspect that there were many more craters formed around 3 billion to 4 billion years ago when Earth lacked a protective atmosphere, although the vast majority of these have been destroyed by erosion (http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/2240-side-side-craters-formation.html), plate tectonics and other processes.....snip~

http://news.yahoo.com/oldest-impact-crater-earth-discovered-162802443.html

Pretty cool that they found this in Greenland. Although can they really call that place a town? Thoughts?

Trinnity
07-01-2012, 06:21 AM
Well then, it's an extremely old one. The Earth is about four billion years old....