Chinese researchers discovered and confirmed the first impact crater on a mountain peak caused by an explosive impact of material from outer space. Photo/SCMP
BEIJING – Researcher China discovered and confirmed the first impact crater on a mountain peak resulting from an impact explosion of material from outer space. A bowl-shaped crater with a diameter of 1,400 meters is at the peak Mountain Baijifeng in northeastern Jilin Province, China.
Analysis of rock samples from the crater site revealed features that could only have been formed as a result of an impact event of extraterrestrial material. The findings were published in the international peer-reviewed journal Matter and Radiation at Extremes, published on September 1, 2023.
Lead author Chen Ming, a researcher at the High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research Center, said the crater’s position on the mountaintop makes it unique. The crater is between two peaks that are believed to have formed when a meteorite or similar space object hit the mountain.
“(The) strange thing is that this crater is entirely on the top of the mountain,” said Chen, quoted by SINDOnews from the scmp page. Friday (15/9/2023). The formation of the impact crater also changed the original topography of Mount Baijifeng, its peak became a double peak with a height of 1,318 meters and 1,300 meters.
Rock fragments around the crater were found to contain mostly sandstone, as well as small amounts of granite dating to the Jurassic period, which ended about 145 million years ago. Scientists believe that it was formed by a large impact that occurred after the Jurassic Period.
The newly discovered crater, located in northeastern China not far from the North Korean border, is the first confirmed mountaintop crater on Earth. Researchers are not sure when the impact occurred, but it left a circular depression and split the mountain peak into two peaks, known as Front Baijifeng and Back Baijifeng.
The researchers were attracted by the shape of the depression between the two mountain peaks, which stretches for about 1,400 meters and the large sandstone fragments scattered across the mountain. This explains the distribution of a large number of rock fragments consisting mainly of sandstone, with small amounts of granite, on the summit of Mount Baijifeng.
(wib)
2023-09-15 03:49:57
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