AN ASTEROID that slammed into Australia between 200 million and 400 million
years ago may have coincided with a mass extinction. The 120-kilometre crater on
the country’s west coast marks the second biggest impact in the past billion
years. There are close parallels between this crater and the 180-kilometre
crater on the Mexican coast, which has been linked to the end of the age of the
dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Both craters, for example, were initially
detected by oil exploration geologists, who had failed to recognise that they
were impact sites.
The exact date of the Australian impact is…
