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Largest Asteroid Impact Crater Ever Found is Identified in Oz

posted by janrinok on Wednesday March 25 2015, @02:47AM   Printer-friendly
from the BOOM! dept.

"gewg_" writes:

Long ago, a rock 6 miles across crashed into Earth and left a hole 12 miles deep and 240 miles wide.

El Reg reports

Australia has been identified as home to the largest asteroid impact crater ever found, more than twice the size of the Chicxulub crater in Mexico often attributed with wiping out the dinosaurs.

The new find in the Warburton Basin in Central Australia is a stunning 400 km-wide impact zone from a huge asteroid that broke into two pieces just before it hit. So big was the impact that it fractured the Earth's crust to a depth of around 20 km, according to a paper published in Tectonophysics .

The Australian National University says it's the largest impact crater ever discovered--the Chicxulub crater measures 180 km across. (108 mi) [... however, the] exact date of the impact remains unclear[...]

[Andrew Gilkson, PhD of the Australian National University says] "we can't find an extinction event that matches these collisions. I have a suspicion the impact could be older than 300 million years".

 
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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by c0lo on Wednesday March 25 2015, @05:39AM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 25 2015, @05:39AM (#162263) Journal

    Nope.
    Although, by the force of impact on young and impressionable species (happens a lot with influential role models), it led to the evolution of Thylarctos plummetus [australianmuseum.net.au] (true, happened a bit later after the event).

    (now, mod me +Informative if you dare)

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    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by MostCynical on Wednesday March 25 2015, @06:10AM

    by MostCynical (2589) on Wednesday March 25 2015, @06:10AM (#162265) Journal

    There is some dispute about size and distribution..

    http://web.archive.org/web/20130511181210/http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/drop-bears-prefer-travellers-says-study.htm [archive.org]

    Also, it may not have emerged until the Holocene.

    --
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    • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday March 25 2015, @06:20AM

      by aristarchus (2645) on Wednesday March 25 2015, @06:20AM (#162266) Journal

      Hey! I'm not falling for such obvious poppy-cockery! Drop-bears! Who ever even heard of such a thing! I have half a mind to .. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaH!! Get it off, , , ,AAAAHHHH! Me! Oh, no, Ahhhrgh! Gurgle, gurgle. Plop. Connection lost:::>

      • (Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Wednesday March 25 2015, @06:50AM

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 25 2015, @06:50AM (#162269) Journal

        Hey! I'm not falling for such obvious poppy-cockery!

        Hello... Hello?? ...
        Damned. Only if they'd have the patience to read 'til the "Danger to humans" section. For those too lazy to RTFA, here's the excerpt:

        There are some suggested folk remedies that are said to act as a repellent to Drop Bears, these include having forks in the hair or Vegemite or toothpaste spread behind the ears. There is no evidence to suggest that any such repellents work.

        From direct personal experience I can tell:

        1. toothpaste behind the ears has limited success - this is how my spine was damaged in 3 places (but I did get alive from the encounter)
        2. Vegemite spread behind ears definitely works. I personally prefer it, but I developed a taste for Vegemite, so I tend to forget the purpose I spread it in the first place
        3. forks in the hair work as well but, very important, remember to wear them with the prongs upwards.
          I'd suggest to mount them so they form a crest (I've been told that some drop bears learned how to launch themselves on angles other than vertical - perhaps we're witnessing the early stages of a speciation process)
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    • (Score: 2) by tibman on Wednesday March 25 2015, @01:49PM

      by tibman (134) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 25 2015, @01:49PM (#162369)

      lol, great link! I would read a paragraph and then recheck the url, "Yup, legit url.. wtf!"

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