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Scientists Uncover 4-km Archaean Impact Crater in Australia

6/12/2026

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Summary

Story summary

Geologists in Australia uncovered the Ora Banda impact structure beneath the Eastern Goldfields.
Gravity surveys found a dense circular anomaly, with drill cores later showing shatter cones and impact breccias.
Glass blobs in the breccias are enriched with nickel, cobalt, iridium, platinum, palladium and rhodium, indicating an iron-rich meteorite.
The buried crater is about 4 kilometers across with concentric rings and is the second confirmed impact formed entirely within Archaean greenstone worldwide.

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Story summary

Geologists in Australia uncovered the Ora Banda impact structure beneath the Eastern Goldfields.
Gravity surveys found a dense circular anomaly, with drill cores later showing shatter cones and impact breccias.
Glass blobs in the breccias are enriched with nickel, cobalt, iridium, platinum, palladium and rhodium, indicating an iron-rich meteorite.
The buried crater is about 4 kilometers across with concentric rings and is the second confirmed impact formed entirely within Archaean greenstone worldwide.