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Intact Impact Crater Unearthed in China

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Scientists have identified an impact crater formed in a granite mountain, which is covered by a dense weathered crust in southern China. The Jinlin Crater, situated in Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province, is among approximately 200 craters recognized worldwide and is estimated to be less than 11,700 years old.

Panoramic aerial drone image of Jinlin Crater taken on May 12, 2025. Image credit: Chen et al., doi: 10.1063/5.0301625.

Throughout Earth’s geological history, a variety of impact craters have emerged.

Nevertheless, due to tectonic movements and significant surface weathering, many ancient craters have been eroded, distorted, or covered.

Currently, around 200 impact craters have been documented globally.

Only four of these impact craters have been reported in China, all of which are in the northeastern region.

In contrast, southern China experiences a tropical to subtropical monsoon climate, with high rainfall, humidity, and temperatures that promote substantial chemical weathering.

The newly found impact structure, referred to as Jinlin Crater, is located in the low mountains and hills of northwestern Guangdong province, adjacent to Jinlin Waterside Village in Deqing County, Zhaoqing City.

With a diameter of 900 m, it stands as the largest known impact crater of the modern Holocene, significantly surpassing the 300 m Maka crater, which was previously the largest identified Holocene impact structure.

“This discovery indicates that the scale of small extraterrestrial object impacts on Earth during the Holocene is much greater than previously known,” remarked Dr. Ming Chen, a researcher at the Hyperbaric Science and Technology Center.

In this instance, the “small” impactor is believed to be a meteorite, rather than a comet, which would have resulted in a crater no less than 10 km wide.

However, Chen and his team have not yet established if the meteorite was composed of iron or stone.

One of the most intriguing aspects of this crater is its remarkable preservation, especially given the monsoons, heavy rainfall, and high humidity conditions of the region, which are typically conducive to erosion.

Within the granite layers that shield and conserve that impact structure, researchers uncovered numerous quartz fragments that exhibit distinctive microscopic characteristics known as planar deformation features. Geologists utilize these as indicators of some form of impact.

“On Earth, quartz planar deformation features can only be formed by intense shock waves generated from celestial body collisions, with formation pressures between 10 to 35 gigapascals. This shock effect cannot be replicated by geological processes on Earth,” explained Dr. Chen.

“It is widely accepted that over Earth’s history, every point on the Earth’s surface has experienced impacts from extraterrestrial objects with roughly equal probability.”

“However, geological variations have led to different erosion rates of these historical impact markers, with some vanishing completely.”

“This underscores the significance of the Jinlin Crater discovery.”

“Impact craters serve as genuine records of Earth’s impact history.”

Uncovering Earth impact craters can furnish us with a more objective basis for comprehending the distribution, geological evolution, and impact history and regulation of small extraterrestrial objects.

For more details, refer to the team’s paper published in the Journal on October 15, 2025, titled Matter and radiation at the limit.

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Ming Chen et al. 2026. Jinlin Crater, Guangdong, China: Impact origin confirmed. Matarajith. extreme 11, 013001; doi: 10.1063/5.0301625

Source: www.sci.news

Australia unearths remarkably intact fossil skull of extinct colossal bird

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Australian paleontologists Genyornis neutoni A species of giant flightless Mihirn that became extinct approximately 45,000 years ago.

This illustration is, Genyornis neutoni Waterside in a wetland or marsh-like environment. The scene itself was inspired by places that exist in southern South Australia today, such as the Coorong and the Narrindjeri region of the Lower Murray River. Genyornis neutoni If this type of environment were widespread across the country, many Genyornis The fossils were found in Lake Carabonna, more than a day’s drive north, which is now a dry salt lake. It was probably much wetter in the past. Image by Jacob C. Blokland.

Genyornis neutoni Belongs to Dromornithidae The Mihirung is a species of flightless bird from Australia that became extinct during the Oligocene and Pleistocene epochs.

Also known as Newton’s Mihirn, this species lived in Australia between 48,000 and 45,000 years ago.

The bird was over two metres tall, weighed 220-240 kilograms, had tiny wings and huge hind legs, and laid a melon-sized egg weighing around 1.5 kilograms.

The only previous known skull of this species was reported in 1913, and it was so badly damaged that very little of the original bone remained, meaning not much could be inferred about the skull.

The well-preserved new specimen was discovered in the dry, salty lake bed of Lake Carabonna, in a remote area of ​​inland South Australia.

As would be expected from such a large bird, its skull was far from ordinary, with an enormous cranium, large upper and lower jaws, and an unusual skull crown.

The upper beak in particular displays a remarkable morphology that distinguishes this bird even from its closest relatives, which are otherwise quite similar.

“Genyornis neutoni “It had a high, mobile upper jaw like a parrot, but was shaped more like a goose, with a wide mouth opening, powerful biting force and the roof of its mouth capable of crushing soft plants and fruit,” says American zoologist Dr Phoebe McInerney. Flinders University.

“Skull features also showed undeniable and complex affinities with early-diverging waterfowl lineages, the South American screamer and, more recently, the Australian magpie goose.”

” Genyornis “The mysteries within this group have been difficult to unravel, but with this new skull we begin to piece together the puzzle that shows this species is a giant goose.”

“we, Genyornis“For the first time we’ve been able to work out the face of this bird – it’s quite different to other birds but does resemble a goose,” said Dr Trevor Worthy, also from Flinders University.

skull Genyornis neutoniImage courtesy of McInerney others., doi: 10.1080/08912963.2024.2308212.

By assessing the morphology of the skull, the researchers were able to evaluate the muscles and movements of each joint, building a detailed picture of how the head functioned.

“Bone shape and bone structure are in part related to the soft tissues that interact with them, such as muscles and ligaments and their attachment sites and pathways,” said Flinders University researcher Jacob Blokland.

“By using modern birds as a comparison, we can put flesh on fossils and bring them back to life.”

Moreover, paleontologists Genyornis neutoni It has several unusual adaptations to adapt to its aquatic habitat, allowing it to protect its ears and throat from the influx of water when its head is submerged underwater.

These adaptations provide further support that the species was nothing more than a giant prehistoric goose, and may be linked to its extinction as the freshwater bodies of northern South Australia are now mainly salt lakes.

“Thanks to this skull, we Genyornis neutoni “We now have a much better understanding of these birds, which once roamed widely across the Australian outback, and the reasons for their eventual extinction,” the researchers concluded.

their paper Published in the journal Historical Biology.

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Phoebe L. McInerney othersMysterious skull shape Genyornis neutoni Stirling & Zeitz, 1896 (Aves, Dromornithidae), with implications for functional morphology, ecology and evolution in the Gallopodidae. Historical BiologyPublished online June 3, 2024; doi: 10.1080/08912963.2024.2308212

Source: www.sci.news

The human brain remains mysteriously intact after thousands of years

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A 1,000-year-old human brain unearthed from a churchyard in Ypres, Belgium.The tissue folds, which are still soft and wet, are stained orange with iron oxide.

Alexandra L. Morton Hayward

Studies of human brains that have been naturally preserved for hundreds or thousands of years have identified 1,300 cases in which the organ survived when all other soft tissue had decomposed. Some of these brains are over 12,000 years old.

“This type of brain is the only one with preserved soft tissue and has been found in sunken ships and flooded graves with only floating bones.” alexandra morton hayward at Oxford University. “It's really, really weird.”

“To be honest, we don't expect the brain to be preserved in any environment,” she says. “As an archaeologist, if you were to dig a grave and find a brain rattling inside a skull, you would be shocked. But you don't expect soft tissue to be preserved, especially in a waterlogged environment. yeah.”

Morton-Hayward first became interested in brain preservation while working as a mortician. “The brain is known to be one of the first organs to decompose after death. I saw it liquefy pretty quickly. But I also saw it preserved.” she says.

Many researchers point out that the human brain is preserved more often than expected and in surprising circumstances, says Morton-Hayward. Now, she and her colleagues are conducting the first-ever systematic study of this phenomenon. They compiled a database of more than 4,400 preserved human brains found around the world.

They also collected and studied many preserved brains themselves. “We actually put it in an MRI machine, and that was a terrible mistake. We didn't know how much iron was in there,” says Morton Hayward.

In most cases, brain preservation can be explained by known processes. For example, the brains of sacrificial Incas buried atop volcanoes in South America around 1450 AD were freeze-dried along with the bodies, Morton-Hayward said.

2,400 years ago, the bodies and brains of swamp people like Tollundman, who was hanged and dumped in a swamp in what is now Denmark, were preserved through a tanning process similar to that used for leather.

Saponification, in which fatty substances are turned into a soap form called grave wax, also preserved the brains of some people who were shot and buried in mass graves in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War.

However, the known process preserves all soft tissue, not just the brain. They do not account for the 1300 cases in which the brain is the only surviving soft tissue.

“This unknown mechanism is completely different,” says Morton-Hayward. “The key feature of this device is that only the brain and bones remain. There is no skin, no muscle, and no intestines.”

For example, St. Hedwig of Silesia was buried in Poland in 1243. When her body was exhumed in the 17th century, it was discovered that her brain was preserved, and at the time it was thought to be due to divine powers.

Alexandra Morton Hayward holds a preserved 1000-year-old brain

graham poulter

Morton-Hayward's working hypothesis is that under certain circumstances, substances such as iron can catalyze the formation of cross-links between proteins and lipids, forming more stable molecules that resist degradation. The nature or ratio of proteins and lipids in the brain may be key.

“The mechanisms are similar to those seen in neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia,” she says. “So if we can understand what happens to the brain after death, we may be able to understand what happens to the brain as it ages during life.”

“It's great news that the data is being made public,” he says. brittany moeller He is one of the researchers at James Cook University in Melbourne, Australia who discovered that: Brain preservation is more common than thought. “This may raise researchers' awareness of the possibility of preserving brain material,” she says.

This is important because preserved brains are often the same color as the surrounding soil. “Therefore, it is very likely that brain material is not recognized for what it is and is frequently discarded during archaeological excavations,” Moller says.

Although this study focused on the human brain, the findings should also apply to animals. Morton Hayward says there are at least 700 examples of animal brains preserved as fossils, the oldest of which he says is an arthropod from 500 million years ago.

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Source: www.newscientist.com