A meteor hit Oklahoma 100 million years later than scientists thought
A meteor crater buried beneath Oklahoma has turned out to be nearly 100 million years younger than scientists thought. Zircon crystals show the Ames impact occurred about 370 million years ago, meaning it was not part of the mysterious Ordovician bombardment once linked to a possible ring of debris around Earth. Instead, the impact coincided closely with a major mass extinction that devastated…
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have re-determined the age of a meteor impact crater beneath Ames, Oklahoma, finding it struck approximately 370 million years ago, which is nearly 100 million years younger than previously believed. The Ames impact structure, now covered by sediment, is significant for its economic value as an oil and gas producer.
Originally thought to belong to the Ordovician Meteor Event around 467.5 million years ago, the new dating shows the Ames crater aligns with the Frasnian-Famennian mass extinction event about 372 million years ago. UT researchers reached this conclusion through zircon crystal dating from granite altered by the impact, suggesting the meteorite hit the region at a much later date.
The study, published in Meteoritics & Planetary Science, used zircon U-Pb dating to confirm the impact's timeline. Researchers emphasize that precise dating of mass extinctions and other major events is crucial for understanding Earth's history, particularly the potential role of meteor impacts versus internal geological processes.
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