Telset.id, Jakarta – The largest asteroid that hit Earth about two billion years ago may be more massive than scientists think. According to the researchers, the site of the horrific event was in South Africa.
The largest asteroid “attack” spawned the Vredefort crater in Johannesburg, South Africa. That’s about double the asteroid that kills dinosaurs.
The Vredefort crater, located about 120 kilometers southwest of Johannesburg, is currently 159 kilometers in diameter or the largest visible in the terrestrial area.
However, the crater is smaller than Chicxulub buried under Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, which is around 180 kilometers in diameter.
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Chicxulub is a crater left by an asteroid that kills dinosaurs. The celestial body hit the Earth about 66 million years ago.
The impact crater slowly erodes over time, which causes it to shrink. The most recent estimate is that the Vredefort crater was originally between 250 km and 280 km in size.
According to the research results of scientists, like The phone quote from Live scienceVredefort is often considered the largest impact crater on Earth even though it is smaller than Chicxulub.
In the past, scientists thought the Vredefort crater was much smaller. It is about 172 km wide. However, this hypothesis was eventually refuted.
Researchers previously calculated that the asteroid responsible for the impact would be 15km in size, colliding at a speed of 53,900km / h.
However, in a new study, scientists revisited the crater’s measurements. They gained new insights into the size of space rocks.
In the study, the researchers recalculated the size of the asteroid Vredefort and found that the space rock was likely 20km and 25km wide.
The asteroid could have traveled at high speeds, between 72,000 and 90,000 km / h when it hit our planet. The resulting footprint is also so terrible.
“Understanding the structure of the greatest impact on Earth has allowed us to build more accurate geological models,” said lead author Natalie Allen.
“A more accurate prediction of the size of the impactor may also explain other craters on Earth, including throughout the solar system,” said the PhD student in Physics and Astronomy.
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As previously reported, scientists have dubbed the newly discovered crater in Africa the “killer cousin of the dinosaurs”. The crater is thought to be the site of a giant meteor falling when it hit Earth millions of years ago.
Scientists estimate that the meteorite hit Earth at the same time as the asteroid that wiped out prehistoric life millions of years ago.
The site where the meteorite fell was found buried more than 984 feet below the sea floor. The location of the asteroid’s crater which is none other than the “cousin” of the dinosaur killer was found approximately 248 miles off the coast of Guinea in West Africa.
Reported New York postDr Uisdean Nicholson of the Heriot-Watt University of Edinburgh, Scotland, dubbed the extraordinary discovery the “Nadir Crater”.
With a diameter of five miles, the asteroid that caused it was most likely only about 0.3 miles in diameter.
“This investigation is like an ultrasound of the Earth. I may have spent the past 20 years playing it, but I’ve never seen anything like it, “said Dr. Nicholson.
“Nadir’s shape is diagnostic of an asteroid impact. The crater has a raised rim surrounding a central uplift area, with a layer of debris extending outward. “
The asteroid that created the Chicxulub crater caused the extinction of the dinosaurs in the Gulf of Mexico, which is estimated to be about 7.4 miles in diameter and changed the shape of planet Earth forever. [SN/HBS]
