Oldest crater on Earth precisely dated

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Scientists think they have identified the precise date a meteorite hit the Earth and created its oldest preserved impact structure. Now scientists say they have precisely dated the Yarrabubba crater, giving a specific age for the impact structure long regarded as one of the world's oldest. The meteorite hit the Earth 2.229 billion years ago, give or take five million years, the researchers said. “Now we know the Yarrabubba crater was made right at the end of what’s commonly referred to as the early Snowball Earth – a time when the atmosphere and oceans were evolving and becoming more oxygenated and when rocks deposited on many continents recorded glacial conditions”.