The Antarctic Creek impact structure is an impact structure in the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia. With an age of around 3.47 billion years dating to the Paleoarchean, it is the oldest known impact structure on Earth by over a billion years and the only one known from the Archean.[1]
| Antarctic Creek impact structure/North Pole Dome | |
|---|---|
  location of the Antarctic Creek impact structure | |
| Impact crater/structure | |
| Confidence | Confirmed |
| Diameter |
|
| Age | ± 2 Ma Paleoarchean, Archean |
| Exposed | Yes |
| Drilled | No |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 21°02′54″S 119°23′35″E / 21.04833°S 119.39306°E |
| Country | Australia |
| Province | Western Australia |
The structure is found in the East Pilbara Terrane, one of the oldest parts of the Pilbara Craton. A geological dome called the North Pole Dome likely represents the central uplift of the structure. Evidence of the impact is shatter cones and impact spherules (formed from condensed impact vapour) found in the Antarctic Creek Member, a 20 metres (66 ft) thick layer of sedimentary rock including "felsic to mafic volcaniclastic rocks, chert, argillite, arenite and jaspilite intruded by dolerite", located within the otherwise entirely volcanic Mount Ada Basalt, which is 2–3 kilometres (1.2–1.9 mi) thick, with the Antarctic Creek Member being overlain by pillow basalts of the Mount Ada Basalt.[1]
Uranium–lead dating of detrital zircons within the Antarctic Creek Member as well as separate dating of the overlying and underlying volcanic strata, have tightly constrained the age of the Antarctic Creek Member and thus the impact to 3470 million years ago, ± 2-3 million years. The 40–45-kilometre (25–28 mi) diameter of the dome suggests that the now long eroded impact crater was over 100 kilometres (62 mi) in diameter when it formed. A spherule bed found in the Barberton Greenstone Belt of South Africa of roughly the same age may have formed as a result of the impact.[1]
See also
edit- Dresser Formation a Paleoarchean aged geological formation that forms part of the strata of the North Pole Dome, containing some of the oldest known evidence of life on Earth
References
edit- ^ a b c Kirkland, Christopher L.; Johnson, Tim E.; Kaempf, Jonas; Ribeiro, Bruno V.; Zametzer, Andreas; Smithies, R. Hugh; McDonald, Brad (6 March 2025). "A Paleoarchaean impact crater in the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia". Nature Communications. 16 (1): 2224. doi:10.1038/s41467-025-57558-3. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 11885519. PMID 40050265.
