This long-lost asteroid impact was so big its debris left more than 30 craters

Ricochet from a meteorite impact on Earth created a huge field of craters that have only been seen on other planets.

The site in southeast Wyoming has more than 30 craters that were formed about 280 million years ago, according to a new study. A meteorite impact hundreds of miles away blew boulders of bedrock into the air.

The study leader said that the craters were formed by blocks from a large primary crater.

The history of Earth was shaped by 5 mass extinction events.

There are secondary craters on other planets and moons, but they have never been found on Earth. The area was under scrutiny from the Chinese Chang'e 4 moon lander.

The scientists have identified 31 craters as secondary features.

The zone of craters was thought to have been caused by an asteroid breaking up in mid-air and sending rocks crashing into the ground. The researchers said individual craters ranged in diameter from 10 to 70 meters.

Several of the craters are clustered in small areas, which suggests a different origin story for the features.

The craters appear to be aligned along ray-like patterns, suggesting that they are secondary craters formed by debris flung out around a central, primary crater.

It will be difficult to find the source crater. The crater is thought to be deep buried in the Denver basin, near the Wyoming-Nebraska border.

The source crater is expected to be roughly 50 to 65 km across. The crater in the Yucatán Peninsula is three times the diameter and is associated with the end of the dinosaurs.

All of the secondary craters were caused by bits of bedrock that were between 13 feet and 26 feet in diameter. They say the impactor could have been more than 2 km wide.

The study was published in the GSA Bulletin.

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