Led by Curtin University geologists Chris Kirkland and Tim Johnson, a research team unearthed this primeval crater beneath rock layers in the East Pilbara Terrane of Western Australia. The oldest Archaean crater before this discovery went back only 2.2 billion years.

In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have identified the world's oldest known meteorite impact crater in Western

We have discovered the oldest meteorite impact crater on Earth, in the very heart of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The crater formed more than 3.5 billion years ago, making it the oldest known by more than a billion years.

Previously, the Vredefort Dome had been the only dated impact structure. The 2 billion-year-old crater can be found in South Africa and is also the world’s biggest at over 155miles across.

Researchers say they have found "unequivocal evidence" that a meteorite smashed into Earth 3.47 billion years ago, potentially affecting plate tectonics and creating conditions for life.

The discovery bolsters the theory that meteorite impacts played an important role in Earth's early geological history

“On Earth, this early impact record has seemingly been lost, reflecting the destructive efficiency of erosion and subduction in recycling primary (basaltic, oceanic) crust back into the convecting mantle,” Kirkland and Johnson said in a study recently published in Nature Communications.

Scientists published the discovery of a 3.5-billion-year-old meteorite impact crater, making it the oldest known by more than a billion years.

A Curtin University group has identified what may be Earth’s oldest meteorite strike in a remote part of Western Australia’s Pilbara region, near the North Pole Dome. Evidence in local rock indicates the collision happened around 3.