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Asteroid That Dwarfed Dinosaur-Killer Punched Earth 3 Billion Years Ago. Study Says
A graphic comparing the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, with an asteroid newly believed to have struck the Earth 3.26 billion years ago. Below the asteroids is a graphic showing how big the craters would have been. Credit: American Geophysical Union
Early in Earth’s history, a killer asteroid smashed a hole in our planet about 300 miles (500 kilometers) wide, which is greater than the driving distance between Washington and New York City, a new study says. The space rock set off a cycle of destruction that sounds like your worst nightmares.
That one reported collision 3.26 billion years ago made the Earth tremble, created earthquakes and set off tsunamis that were thousands of meters deep, according to a new research team. The size of this estimated destructor? About 297 miles (478 km) wide, or about three times as wide as the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
“We knew it was big, but we didn’t know how big,” stated co-author Donald Lowe, a geologist at Stanford University and a co-author of the study, of the asteroid.
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Read the rest of Asteroid That Dwarfed Dinosaur-Killer Punched Earth 3 Billion Years Ago. Study Says (184 words)
© Elizabeth Howell for Universe Today, 2014. |
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Post tags: barberton greenstone, Chicxulub Crater, chicxulub impact event, Late Heavy Bombardment
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Source: http://www.universetoday.com/111103/asteroid-that-dwarfed-dinosaur-killer-punched-earth-3-billion-years-ago-study-says/
