World’s first confirmed mountaintop impact crater identified in NE China
- Rock samples reveal traces of damage caused by the shock waves of exploding space matter thousands of years ago
- Researchers say the crater’s position at the summit of Baijifeng Mountain makes it unique among impact-created structures
Analysis of rock samples from the site revealed features that could only have been formed by an impact event, according to a paper published in September by international peer-reviewed journal Matter and Radiation at Extremes.
Lead author Chen Ming, a researcher with the Centre for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research, said the crater’s position at the mountain’s summit made it unique among the world’s confirmed impact craters.
“[The] peculiar thing is that this crater is entirely on top of a mountain,” Chen said, adding that it was also at the highest elevation compared to its surroundings of all the known impact craters.
The crater has a diameter of 1,400 metres (4,600ft) and sits between two peaks which the researchers believe were formed when a meteorite or similar extraterrestrial body crashed into the mountain.
Rock fragments from around the crater were found to contain mostly sandstone, as well as a small amount of granite dating from the Jurassic period, which ended around 145 million years ago.
