Researchers have discovered a 3.5-billion-year-old meteorite impact crater in Western Australia, providing new insights into Earth’s early history, crust formation, and the origins of life.
Researchers from Curtin University have identified the world’s oldest known meteorite impact crater, a finding that could reshape our understanding of Earth’s formation and the origins of life.
A team from Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences and the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) examined rock layers in the North Pole Dome, a region within Western Australia’s Pilbara Craton. Their analysis revealed evidence of a massive meteorite impact dating back 3.5 billion years.
Co-lead researcher Professor Tim Johnson from Curtin University emphasized that this discovery challenges long-held assumptions about Earth’s early history.
“Before our discovery, the oldest impact crater was 2.2 billion years old, so this is by far the oldest known crater ever found on Earth,” Professor Johnson said.
Researchers discovered the crater thanks to ‘shatter cones’, distinctive rock formations only formed under the intense pressure of a meteorite strike.
A Massive Impact Event
The shatter cones at the site, about 40 kilometers west of Marble Bar in WA’s Pilbara region, were formed when a meteorite slammed into the area at more than 36,000km/h.
This would have been a major planetary event, resulting in a crater more than 100km wide that would have sent debris flying across the globe.
“We know large impacts were common in the early solar system from looking at the Moon,” Professor Johnson said.
“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.”
Implications for Earth’s Early Environment
Co-lead author Professor Chris Kirkland, also from Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the discovery shed new light on how meteorites shaped Earth’s early environment.
“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,” Professor Kirkland said.
“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.”
Reference: “A Paleoarchaean impact crater in the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia” by Christopher L. Kirkland, Tim E. Johnson, Jonas Kaempf, Bruno V. Ribeiro, Andreas Zametzer, R. Hugh Smithies and Brad McDonald, 6 March 2025, Nature Communications.
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57558-3
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5 Comments
The illustration obviously depicts a crater which appears to be less than 100km wide. Is this just another artist’s conception? Such a feature would be difficult to hide.
The shatter cone photograph shows a background different from the lede ‘artist’s conception.’
Note that the caption mentions “artists concept”.
The Vredefort impact crater is 300 billion years old.
Begging your pardon, Lood, but 21.74 times the age of the known Universe? P’r’aps your comment is a typo?