A Paleoarchaean impact crater in the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia

Christopher L. Kirkland, Tim E. Johnson (), Jonas Kaempf, Bruno V. Ribeiro, Andreas Zametzer, R. Hugh Smithies and Brad McDonald
Additional contact information
Christopher L. Kirkland: Curtin University
Tim E. Johnson: Curtin University
Jonas Kaempf: Curtin University
Bruno V. Ribeiro: Curtin University
Andreas Zametzer: Curtin University
R. Hugh Smithies: Curtin University
Brad McDonald: Curtin University

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-5

Abstract: Abstract The role of meteorite impacts in the origin, modification, and destruction of crust during the first two billion years of Earth history (4.5–2.5 billion years ago; Ga) is disputed. Whereas some argue for a relatively minor contribution overall, others have proposed that individual giant impactors (>10–50 km diameter) can initiate subduction zones and deep mantle plumes, arguably triggering a chain of events that formed cratons, the ancient nuclei of the continents. The uncertainty is compounded by the seeming absence of impact structures older than 2.23 Ga, such that the evidence for the terrestrial impact flux in the Hadean and Archaean eons is circumstantial. Here, we report the discovery of shatter cones in a complex, dominantly metasedimentary layer, the Antarctic Creek Member (ACM), in the centre of the East Pilbara Terrane, Western Australia, which provide unequivocal evidence for a hypervelocity meteorite impact. The shocked rocks of the crater floor are overlain by (unshocked) carbonate breccias and pillow lavas, stratigraphically constraining the age of the impact to 3.47 Ga and confirming discovery of the only Archaean crater known thus far.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-57558-3 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-57558-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57558-3

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().