Meteorite split mountain in China into two separate peaks

According to a study published millions of years ago in the scientific journal Matter and Radiation at Extremes, Meteorite shattered in ChinaIt crashed into Baijifeng Mountain, splitting it into two separate peaks upon impact. A team of scientists from the Advanced Research Center for High Pressure Science and Technology (HPSTAR) in Shanghai conducted the research after finding sandstone rocks in the area. Interestingly, their origins were unknown.

The two peaks are called Front Baijifeng (front) and Back Baijifeng (back), located in northeastern China’s Jilia province; researchers explain this The fall of the meteorite created a crater 1.4 kilometers wide. The HPSTAR team decided to start the article after discovering samples in the region.

The crater formed by the meteorite is considered the first confirmed crater on top of a mountain. The discovery was made after researchers analyzed sandstone and granite samples taken from the surface of the area, known to the local civilization as ‘meteorite’. While examining the quartz minerals in the samples, They found a specific deformation caused by large amounts of heat and pressure; in this case, by the fall of a meteorite.

“We want to discover the real story behind this accumulation of rock fragments. Our research has revealed for the first time the existence of an impact structure on Mount Baijifeng. During the formation of impact craters… a large amount of rock must have been ‘excavated’ and thrown out to form this new geological structure,” the study authors said. explained that the collision would greatly alter the original terrain of the target, creating two new peaks known as Front Baijifeng and Back Baijifeng.

Meteorite and two-peaked mountain

Interest in the mountain began when the circular shape of the crater between two peaks attracted the attention of researchers. The presence of ‘meteorites’ also suggested that a meteorite had fallen in the area.

The investigation team was unable to determine the exact date of the accident, but they claim that: granite formed between 150 million and 172 million years ago; so the effect probably occurred after this formation. The Yilan crater is the largest crater caused by a meteorite and is approximately 49 thousand years old since its ‘creation’; According to scientists, the Baijifeng peaks must have formed at approximately the same time.

“The crater-shaped depression with a diameter of approximately 1,400 meters in Baijifeng Mountain, Tonghua City has been confirmed to be an impact structure. This impact structure is located on a basement composed mainly of Neo-Proterozoic sandstones and Jurassic granites. “The formation of the impact structure corresponds to the impact of an object on the top of a high mountain,” explains the conclusion of the study.

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