“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.”
The Snowball Earth hypothesis speculates the planet’s surface was covered in ice sheets between one and three miles thick.
The new study offers some fascinating insight into how asteroid impacts can shape a planet’s habitability.
Until now, asteroid impacts such as the one near Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula 66 million years ago, were known to bring death and destruction to the planet and its inhabitants.
But scientists are now excited by the “twist of fate” brought about by the Yarrabubba asteroid strike.