DHALA CRATER

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Context

The Dhala crater, an impact structure located in the Madhya Pradesh region of India.

Details

• Earth has encountered numerous extraterrestrial bodies over its 4.5 billion years of existence.
• Some impacts have left significant marks on our planet, leading to major events like the extinction of dinosaurs.
• India has three meteor impact craters: Ramgarh, Lonar, and Dhala.
• The Dhala crater, located in Madhya Pradesh, has recently gained attention as Asia's largest and the world's seventh-largest impact crater.

Discovery of Dhala Crater

• Dhala crater has a diameter of 11 kilometers.
• Scientists from Allahabad University and the University of Bern, Switzerland, confirmed that the crater resulted from the collision of a rare and ancient meteorite known as Ureilite.
• The impact occurred approximately 2500-1700 million years ago.

Ureilite Meteorites

• Ureilites belong to a scarce class of primitive meteorites, making up only a small fraction of all meteorites found on Earth.
• They mainly consist of olivine and pyroxene silicate rocks.
• Ureilites contain less than 10% carbon in the form of diamond or graphite, metal sulphides, and a few fine-grained silicates.

Dhala Impact Formation

• A one-kilometer-wide Ureilite meteorite entered Earth's atmosphere at an extraordinary speed of 15 km/s.
• The meteorite collided with the granitoid rocks of the Bundelkhand craton, creating the Dhala impact structure.

Significance of Dhala Crater Study

• The discovery of the impactor material provides insight into our early solar system.
• Future research aims to understand the role of the Dhala crater in bringing water to Earth and contributing to the development of life on our planet.

https://tech.hindustantimes.com/tech/news/meteorite-created-madhya-pradeshs-famous-dhala-impact-crater-new-study-reveals-71690439056785.html#google_vignette