Curtin University researchers have determined a revised age for Earth's oldest known impact crater, the North Pole Dome crater, settling a long-standing scientific debate. The team found that the impact occurred approximately 3 billion years ago, correcting earlier claims that pegged the event at 3.47 billion years.
The finding reshapes understanding of how meteorite strikes influenced the planet's early development. Previously, the widely accepted age suggested a much earlier cataclysm, but the new data places the impact within a different geological epoch.
Scientists describe the revised date as based on "unequivocal evidence" from advanced isotopic analysis of rock samples. This precise dating resolves a discrepancy that had persisted for years, with some earlier studies differing by as much as half a billion years.
The correction means Earth's bombardment history may need to be rewritten, potentially affecting models of early crust formation and the conditions under which life emerged. The impact itself would have been a continent-scale event.
While the new age is now firmly established, the crater remains the oldest known. No other confirmed impact structure on Earth has been dated to an earlier period at this level of precision.