Ancestral Glass Discoveries in Australia Indicate a Lost Cataclysm: An Asteroid Impact Shaped Earth 11 Million Years Ago and Its Location Remains Unknown
In the deserts of southern Australia, a set of natural glass fragments has just rewritten part of Earth’s history. , dubbed ananguites, confirming a forgotten cataclysm: previously unrecorded. However, the enigma remains open. The crater that should exist has not yet appeared.
A discovery hidden in museums
did not arise from a recent excavation, but from the analysis of over 400 samples preserved at the South Australian Museum. Among them, six unique fragments showed a chemical composition different from any other known impact field.
, confirmed that these tektites were not linked to the famous Australasian field (780,000 years), but to a much older and localized event.
The mystery of the phantom crater
led by the have not yet found the impact site. The most solid hypothesis suggests that the crater could be hidden beneath regions of the Philippines, Indonesia, or Papua New Guinea, where volcanic activity and geological changes may have erased visible traces over time.
“We know there was an immense impact, but its physical trace seems to have disappeared,” explained geoscientist Fred Jourdan.
Impacts shaping history
Beyond archaeological curiosity, ananguites offer clues to understanding the frequency and magnitude of . Knowing when they occurred and what consequences they had is vital for preparing defenses against future impacts.
The fragments suggest that Earth has been the scene of more cataclysms than previously thought, and that the known records only tell part of the story.
A time capsule in glass form
function as a geological archive: fragments of melted rock that preserve the imprint of a violent moment. In this case, it is a collision capable of altering entire continents and leaving invisible scars.
reminds us that forgotten chapters of our cosmic history still lie beneath the Earth’s surface. And that, although the crater remains hidden, each found fragment is another piece in the puzzle of how asteroids shaped the Earth we inhabit today.
