Abstract
Current models for the origin and constituents of Earth are based
primarily on compositions of meteorites that fell recently (within the
past ~1 million years) on Earth. Here we report the
discovery of a probable crater (~150x100x3 km in the
original dimension), which was possibly created by the impact of a large
(~10 km in diameter) asteroid on a >2.5
km-deep, oxygenated ocean-floor in Pilbara, Western Australia 3.46
billion-years (Ga) ago; that is, more than 1.2 Gyr earlier than the
oldest known impact crater on Earth. This discovery was made mostly
through a drone-assisted survey of the distributions of impact breccias
and tsunami deposits. We have also discovered numerous micro-fragments
(<1 µm to ~3 mm in sizes) of the asteroid
(named here as “The Apex Asteroid”) in tsunami deposits and submarine
pillow lavas that were most likely generated by the asteroid impact. The
micro-fragments are mostly comprised of titanite (CaTiSiO5) and rutile
(TiO2), and frequently associated with native iron (Fe), carbon (C)-rich
nanocrystals (e.g., SiC, graphite), coesite (high-pressure polymorph of
SiO2) and a variety of alloys, such as iron-iridium (Ir) alloys with up
to ~10 wt% Ir, iron-nickel (Ni)-cobalt (Co)-, aluminum
(Al)-copper (Cu)-, Al-Si-, Si-C-, Fe-C- and C-Al-Ca-Cu-Fe alloys. The
Apex Asteroid was much richer in titanium (Ti), calcium (Ca) and
vanadium (V), and poorer in magnesium (Mg) and Fe compared to
recently-fallen meteorites. Thermochemical analyses of the asteroid
minerals suggest that: (1) the parental planetary body of the Apex
Asteroid condensed from a solar-gas cluster that was hotter and having
higher H2/H2O and H/O ratios compared to planetary bodies for the
recently-fallen meteorites; (2) it may represent a major building-block
of Earth; and (3) Earth and the Moon have the same chemical and isotopic
compositions, but Ti atoms in the Earth’s magma oceans partitioned into
the Ti-rich core and Ti-poor mantle, while most Ti atoms in the lunar
magma oceans condensed as the Ti-rich mantle.