51�Թ�

“Yarrabubba, which sits between Sandstone and Meekatharra in central WA, had been recognized as an impact structure for many years, but its age wasn’t well determined,” Curtin University professor Chris Kirkland said in a statement.

The extent of erosion suggests that the impact structure is very, very old.

The next-oldest impact structure, Vredefort Dome in South Africa, is over 200 million years younger.

The age of the Yarrabubba impact structure happens to line up with the end of an ice age, which makes for a compelling coincidence, Dr. Erickson said: “Would an impact event like Yarrabubba be enough to terminate a glacial time in Earth’s history?”

The Yarrabubba impact structure, about a day’s drive northeast of Perth, isn’t much to look at today.