The new discovery in Australia dwarfs Meteor Crater in Arizona, one of the best preserved meteorite craters in the world. The crater in Australia is nearly 250 times larger than Meteor Crater.
A long time ago, a huge meteorite entered the earth's atmosphere in a screaming fireball. In its last violent moments, it split into two massive pieces, each at least 6 miles across, and slammed into the earth, creating twin impact craters spanning nearly 250 miles of the Australian countryside.
The craters have been covered over by natural processes since the impact, but researchers found evidence recently while
for a potential geothermal energy project. They found layers of quartz that had been shocked, a technical term for quickly deforming during an impact. When they looked closer, and did some additional tests on the area, the researchers found that there was also evidence from much deeper in the earth's crust.
"There are two huge deep domes in the crust, formed by the Earth's crust rebounding after the huge impacts, and bringing up rock from the mantle below," lead researcher Andrew Glikson