Long before dinosaurs walked the planet, Earth took a massive hit from space. Scientists from Curtin University have now confirmed the most precise age yet for the world's oldest known meteorite crater. The impact happened around 3 billion years ago, making it more than 10 times older than the dinosaurs.

The team studied rocks at the North Pole Dome in Western Australia's Pilbara region. The area has been debated for years as a possible ancient impact site.

Using advanced mineral dating, researchers from Curtin's School of Earth and Planetary Sciences and the Geological Survey of Western Australia found clear proof of the huge collision.

Lead author Professor Chris Kirkland said the findings finally settle a long debate about when the strike occurred. The discovery shows that giant asteroids were already shaping Earth billions of years ago, long before life as we know it began.

These early impacts may have played a key role in forming the planet's continents and changing its surface."While the site had previously been identified as an ancient impact structure, its exact age remained uncertain," Professor Kirkland said.

"The impact left a 'mineral clock' behind. By dating minerals that were remade or newly grown in the damaged rocks, we can now pin down when this extraordinary event happened.

"The key evidence comes from zircon, a tiny but extraordinarily resilient mineral that can keep geological time for billions of years. Some zircons at North Pole Dome have unusual branching, skeletal shapes.

We interpret these as impact-modified crystals, formed when older zircon was disrupted, partly recrystallised, and in places regrown during the intense heating caused by the impact.

Source:Ndtv