First discovery!, Chinese scientists
Chinese scientists have discovered meteorite craters on high mountains for the first time, and this achievement has recently been published in the English academic journal "Matter and Radiation under Extreme Conditions".
Craters on Earth are circular craters formed by the impact of asteroids and other celestial bodies in the universe. Meteorites are not only unique in nature, but also an important basis for scientists to study outer space.
The head of the Beijing High Pressure Science Research Center told reporters that there are many famous meteorite craters in the world, such as Barringer Crater in Arizona, USA and Wolf Creek Crater in Australia, some of which have become world-renowned tourist attractions. But no researchers have previously discovered craters on high mountains.
The newly discovered crater is located at the top of a high mountain in Baijifeng National Forest Park, more than 20 kilometers southeast of Tonghua City, Jilin Province, China, with a diameter of 1400 meters. The height difference between the highest point at the edge of the pit and the lowest point at the center of the pit is over 400 meters, forming an ice bucket shape, like a huge funnel hanging from a high mountain, magnificent and spectacular.
The picture shows the Baijifeng crater captured by drones.
The Baijifeng National Forest Park is known for the large amount of "sky stones" covering the summit of Baijifeng. Large pieces of rock are piled up on the mountaintops and slopes, forming a stone waterfall. However, the origin of these "celestial stones" has always been an unsolved mystery in the past.
The diagram shows the impact rock fragments and evidence of impact metamorphism.
"When an asteroid collides with the plane of the Earth, it forms a bowl shaped depression. However, when the asteroid falls on the special terrain of the Earth's surface, the propagation pattern and mechanism of the explosion point shock wave will change with the terrain." Chen Ming, one of the discoverers of the crater and a researcher at the Beijing High Pressure Science Research Center, told reporters that Baijifeng Mountain is mainly composed of bedrock materials such as Proterozoic sedimentary rocks and Jurassic granite.
"After the impact of the asteroid on the mountaintop, it triggered a violent explosion and rock ejection from the target area, forming a huge impact crater, shaping two new peaks, 'Front White Chicken' and 'Back White Chicken', changing the original shape of this mountain peak." Chen Ming said that the stone waterfalls now distributed on the mountaintops and slopes are the accumulation of rock fragments such as sandstone and granite that were ejected from the crater to the rim of the crater during the asteroid impact event. This new discovery has solved the mystery of the origin of the "Tianshi" in Baijifeng.
The reviewer believes that this discovery enriches human understanding of the history of planetary collisions and provides a new perspective for exploring the impact cratering mechanisms of special terrains and the impact metamorphic effects of materials.
