The asteroid that annihilated the dinosaurs 65.5 million years ago caused a pretty massive hit . However , that asteroid isnothingcompared to one that hit South Africa 3.26 billion age ago . Norman Sleep and Donald Lowe , both from Stanford University , were able toreconstruct the impact , fall upon the asteroid ’s true size for the first fourth dimension . The results have been swallow for publishing in the American Geophysical Union ’s journal , Geochemistry , Geophysics , Geosystems(G - dice ) .
The Chicxulub crater , formed by an asteroid impact that would ultimately pass over out the dinosaurs , is about 150 kilometers ( 93 miles ) wide . This is completely dwarfed the crater that is probable about 478 kilometre ( 297 miles ) in diam in South Africa . nap and Lowe were able-bodied to take apart the rocks in the crater and estimate the size of of the asteroid that would have cause it .
The conclusion ? An asteroid about 37 kilometers ( 23 miles ) in diam ( nearly four multiplication larger than the one that get the Chicxulub ) touch on Earth ’s airfoil at an unbelievable rate of 20 kilometer per 2d ( 12 mile per secondly ) . Upon impact , seismal waves shook the Earth for over half an hour and creative massive tsunami that are many times larger than the one that desolate Japan in 2011 . It is likely that this collision is one of many other impact that really fractured our plateful tectonic system into what we know today . Yes , it was an asteroid so big , it really broke the Earth .
The big problem with studying this encroachment and others like it during theLate Heavy Bombardment periodearly in Earth ’s story is that a lot has happened since then . Between erosion and 3.26 billion years of scale movement , the impact site is n’t a clear - determine area any longer . Lowe had to analyze rocks over a very big region in purchase order to discover the evidence of such a monumental wallop .
All of Lowe ’s geologic data were combined with Sleep ’s knowledge of purgative in rules of order to make calculator models and extrapolate the original size of the volcanic crater and asteroid . The impact is believed to have happened a few thousand kilometers away from an area known as the Baberton Greenstone Belt in South Africa , which has some of the most ancient rocks on the planet . There is evidence that the seismic activity from the asteroid ’s impact actually influence some of those rock ‘n’ roll formations , even at such a great space .
When the Earth ( and the solar arrangement ) was still young , about 3 - 4 billion year ago , big impacts are consider to have pass pretty regularly as larger chunks of dust were still somewhat uncouth in the inner solar system . There has also been evidence of similar impacts in South Africa and Western Australia , but this is the first time that one of those monolithic impacts has been so fastidiously reconstruct . Asteroid encroachment as with child as this likely changed the microbic biodiversity on the planet , which could have allow other species to acquire and fulfill recess positions .
A graphical theatrical of the size of the asteroid think to have kill the dinosaur , and the volcanic crater it produce , compared to an asteroid thought to have strike the Earth 3.26 billion age ago and the size of the crater it may have generated . A Modern study reveal the power and graduated table of the event some 3.26 billion twelvemonth ago which scientists think create geologic features discover in a South African realm known as the Barberton greenstone belt . Credit : American Geophysical Union
