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China's Jinlin Crater: Largest Holocene Impact Discovered

11/16/2025

Summary

Story summary

Researchers have identified the Jinlin crater in Guangdong Province, China, a 900-meter-diameter impact structure formed about 11,700 years ago in the early-to-mid Holocene.
It surpasses Russia's Macha crater at 300 meters to become the largest known Holocene impact structure.
Inside granite, quartz fragments show planar deformation features, confirming an extraterrestrial origin.
The findings challenge assumptions about recent impacts and were published in Matter and Radiation at Extremes.

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Story summary

Researchers have identified the Jinlin crater in Guangdong Province, China, a 900-meter-diameter impact structure formed about 11,700 years ago in the early-to-mid Holocene.
It surpasses Russia's Macha crater at 300 meters to become the largest known Holocene impact structure.
Inside granite, quartz fragments show planar deformation features, confirming an extraterrestrial origin.
The findings challenge assumptions about recent impacts and were published in Matter and Radiation at Extremes.