Scientists discover largest known asteroid impact zone on Earth in central Australia

Scientists believe they have found the largest asteroid impact zone on Earth after two collision sites were discovered in central Australia.

Researchers from Canberra’s Australian National University (ANU) announced yesterday they had detected a 400 kilometre-wide zone embedded in the Earth’s crust, believed to have been caused by a meteorite splitting in two millions of years ago.

The twin “deep domes” were discovered during drilling as part of geothermal research in a surface area that straddles the borders of South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Lead researcher Dr Andrew Glikson said the violent crash would have been a monumental event.

“The two asteroids must each have been over 10 kilometres across – it would have been curtains for many life species on the planet at the time,” he said.

It is unclear when the event occurred, however surrounding rocks are between 300-600 million years old.

“It’s a mystery – we can’t find an extinction event that matches these collisions. I have a suspicion the impact could be older than 300 million years,” he said.

“Large impacts like these may have had a far more significant role in the Earth’s evolution than previously thought.”

The research has been published in the academic journal Tectonophysics.