David Bressan is a professional geologist and science blogger interested in how the Earth’s past influences society and daily life today. From 2011 to 2014, his geology blog was hosted by Scientific American and now, for almost one decade, by Forbes.
Geological evidence suggests that the world's largest known impact structure is buried beneath Australia's desert. The 600-kilometer wide crater formed over 500 million years ago and may have triggered Earth 's first mass extinction.
Researcher Daniel Connelly and Virginia Commonwealth University's Arif Sikder, Ph.D., believe they have found evidence to support the existence of MAPCIS—the Massive Australian Precambrian-Cambrian Impact Structure.. The inner crater is about 600 kilometers in diameter. There is a wider ring 2,000 kilometers in diameter, which may be related to the inner ring.
Based on preliminary observations of how younger sediments and magmatic rocks buried the structure, the impact occurred at the end of the Ediacaran period some 545 to 538 million years ago—curiously enough coinciding with what could be Earth's first mass extinction. So far the extinction of theOur community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space.
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