Asteroid hit in China 10,000 years ago had power of 40 atomic bombs

Scientists have discovered evidence of a large asteroid impact in southern China’s Guangdong province, which created a prominent crater approximately 10,000 years ago. This event coincided with a period of significant human development.

The Jinlin crater, located near Zhaoqing city, is China’s fifth confirmed impact site and the first in the country’s southern region.

This tilted, bowl-shaped formation, approximately 2,950 feet across, is believed to have been created by an extraterrestrial object roughly 100 feet in diameter, causing an explosion equivalent to dozens of atomic bombs.

The asteroid impact would have a greater influence on the surrounding environment, land sculpting, and local ecosystems.

The Jinlin crater was recently described in the journal Matter and Radiation at Extremes on October 15, and its appearance is attributed to a bolide impact.

According to the researcher at the Centre for High Pressure Science and Technology, Chen Ming, said that the impact dissipates energy equal to 600,000 tons of TNT, equivalent to the force of 40 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs.

Ming remarked that a significant asteroid impact during this period could have had deep effects on both human populations and the surrounding environment.

Though asteroid strikes can happen globally, many ancient craters have been altered, eroded, or covered over geological time by tectonic activity and weathering. Currently, approximately 200 impact craters have been identified worldwide, with China having only five confirmed, as reported by the South China Morning Post.

Key Evidence of Granite and glass planes found in Southern China crater

The formation was primarily caused by an asteroid impact. Analysis of quartz samples from the site revealed planar deformation features—microscopic planes of damage that occur when a crystal’s lattice structure is fragmented under extreme pressure and temperature.

Tiny marks found in the quartz of the Jinlin crater prove that it was made by an asteroid hitting Earth. These marks can only be created by extreme forces that don’t happen naturally on Earth.

The crater is in an area that gets a lot of rain (over 59 inches a year), which causes it to wear away easily, especially where the ground is loose.

The fascinating discovery is the first verified impact crater in South China. Further studies may suggest that carbon dating is needed to examine its exact age.

This research is also important for potentially finding hidden impact structures by studying their earth structure and the extent of erosion.