Scientists have discovered the second oldest known asteroid

Scientists have discovered the second oldest known asteroid

Australian scientists found evidence of a huge asteroid that crashed into the Earth about 3,400,000,000 years ago, making it the second oldest known asteroid colliding with Earth.

Andrew Glikson from the Australian Institute of Planetary National University says that, despite the fact that the asteroid is quite massive, the exact location of the collision is impossible to determine.

"The impact caused earthquakes an order of magnitude larger than earthly ones, and probably gave rise to huge tsunamis," he said in a statement.

"Breed from the collision has spread around the world."

Addressing the community of the Institute of Planetary National University, Glikson and Arthur Hickman of the Geological Survey of Western Australia discovered tiny glass balls called spherules, which are formed by evaporating material from an asteroid impact, in a remote region in northwestern Australia.

They were found in the sedimentary layer on the ocean floor, which is preserved between two volcanic layers. Its age dates back to 3, 46 billion years. "This is the second oldest known asteroid," said Glikson of the asteroid, which scientists estimate was 20 (12 miles) in diameter and formed a crater hundreds of kilometers wide.

This makes it more than a giant asteroid that collided with Earth about 66 million years ago and which is blamed for the death of dinosaurs. According to scientists, that asteroid was 15 kilometers wide.

Glikson said that while the find indicates the second oldest asteroid that hit the Earth, there may have been other similar effects that have yet to be discovered, since the craters could have been destroyed as a result of volcanic activity and tectonic movements.

"This is only the tip of the iceberg. We have found evidence of only 17 blows older than 2.5 billion years old, but there may be hundreds of them," he said in a statement.

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