The largest asteroid to hit Earth puts the Dinosaur-killing asteroid in the shade.
We are familiar with the theory that a giant asteroid 10-15 km wide ended the era of the dinosaurs about 66 million years ago. The asteroid impact created the Chicxulub crater, buried under Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, about 112 miles (180 km) in diameter. But did you know it’s the biggest asteroid to hit? The earth. It’s called the asteroid Vredefort and it crashed into the planet about 2 billion years ago. Now, a new study has revealed that the asteroid is even larger than scientists previously thought.
According to research published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, the size of the asteroid Vredefort has been measured somewhere between 12.4 and 15.5 miles (20 and 25 km) across. It also revealed that it may have traveled between 45000 and 56000 mph (72000 and 90000 km/h) while hitting Earth. The crater it created is known as the Vredefort crater, which has left a huge scar in present-day South Africa. It currently has a diameter of about 99 miles (159 km), making it the largest visible crater on Earth.
However, over time, these craters gradually eroded and shrunk. Recent estimates suggest that the original Vredefort crater was 155-174 miles (250-280 km) long. As a result, Vredefort crater is believed to be the most impactful crater on Earth.
How is the effect of Vredefort different from the effect of Chicxulub
The report says that unlike the Chicxulub impact, the largest asteroid Vredefort collision did not cause a major extinction of flora and fauna on Earth. Co-author of the latest study Miki Nakajima, a planetary scientist at the University of Rochester in New York says, “Unlike the Chicxulub effect, the Vredefort effect does not leave record mass extinctions or wildfires caused by only single-celled life forms and no trees that existed two billion years ago”.
However, the impact of Vredefort small planet Global climate is affected more than Chicxulub small planet attack the Earth.
