Falkland Islands basin among world’s largest craters?
Heritage Daily reports that abasin in the Falkland Islands exhibits traits of a large impact crater, according to a new analysis by a team of scientists. The structure measures approximately 250km in diameter and is described in the latest issue of the journal Terra Nova.
Prof Michael Rampino, a professor in New York University’s Department of Biology and one of the paper’s co-authors believes that it is one of the largest known impact craters, based onsome of the most telling features.The researchers, who also include Max C.L. Rocca of Argentina’s Planetary Society and Paraguay-based geologist Jaime Báez Presser, acknowledge that samples from the site are necessary to confirm the conclusions of the analysis.
The basin is situated on the Falkland Plateau to the northwest of West Falkland Island. Seen in seismic-reflection profiles, and in gravity and magnetic surveys, it has traits that are consistent with impact craters, which are caused by collisions with asteroids and comets. Approximately 200 such craters have been discovered on Earth.
The scientists estimate the age of the basin to be from the late Paleozoic Era–approximately 270 to 250 million years ago.