A New Evidence Of Giant Asteroid Found In Australia

The remains of an ancient giant asteroid were found in outback Australia, which was reportedly had caused strong earthquakes, and wiped out the dinosaurs and other extinct animals.

The size of the new found ancient giant asteroid was up to 40-kilometer-wide, and scientists said this could be the largest asteroid collided into the planet that left a crater with hundreds of kilometers wide. This asteroid was one of the reasons why the planet has changed significantly.

The remnants of the giant asteroid come in the shape of tiny glass beads known as spherules, a small sphere which said to be formed from material vaporized by the impact. The spherules were discovered by scientists in Western Australia's Marble Bar, which they got as samples of sedimentary rock that once formed a sea floor.

The team of scientists was able to date the glass beads to 3.46 billion years ago. They also analyzed the chemical composition of spherules' rims, and the they found out it contain elements such as magnesium, iron, and nickel, which are matched the levels found in asteroids.

"We've only found evidence for 17 impacts older than 2.5 billion years, but there could have been hundreds," Andrew Gilkson, an author from the Australian National University, said in a report by Cosmos Magazine.

According to Gilkson, volcanic activity and the aftermath tectonic movement had wiped out the crater created by this huge asteroid, thus left the location of where it impacted unknown.

Despite evidences found, Gilkson and his team were not able to figure out the exact location where the asteroid fell because the volcanic activity and tectonic movements destroyed the crater, The Times UK reports.

However, the spherules that they found may help them find the other clues.