World's 'Youngest' Impact Crater, Yilan, Discovered in Chinese Forest

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World's 'Youngest' Impact Crater, Yilan, Discovered in Chinese Forest

In the dense forests of China's Heilongjiang province, nestled within the Lesser Xing'an mountain range, lies a geological marvel that is rewriting our understanding of Earth's impact history. Newly analyzed via satellite imagery, the Yilan crater is emerging as a prime candidate for the youngest impact structure ever discovered on our planet. Initial carbon dating places its formation between 46,000 and 53,000 years ago, a remarkably recent event in geological terms, potentially surpassing the long-held record of Arizona's Barringer Crater.

The Yilan crater, located approximately 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) northwest of the town of Yilan, presents a striking, albeit incomplete, circular feature. Its ringed walls ascend up to 150 meters (500 feet) above the crater floor, with its widest point spanning about 1.85 kilometers (1.15 miles). This impressive scale, combined with its potential youth, makes it the largest impact crater known within its age bracket. The discovery, confirmed by Chinese researchers in mid-2021, was only revealed to the wider scientific community via satellite photos taken a few months later. Until then, the crater remained largely hidden by thick forest cover, its true nature obscured from view.

Locals were aware of the prominent landform, referring to it as "Quanshan," meaning "circular mountain ridge." This indigenous name, while descriptive of its appearance, clearly lacked any implication of its extraterrestrial origins. It was the meticulous work of geologists that unveiled its cosmic connection. Excavations beneath the crater floor yielded definitive evidence: "shocked quartz, melted granite, glass containing holes formed by gas bubbles, and tear-drop-shaped glass fragments." These are all tell-tale signs, as noted by NASA's Earth Observatory, of the immense energy released during the impact of a substantial space object.

The estimated age range of 46,000 to 53,000 years positions the Yilan crater as a significant contender for the youngest major impact crater on Earth. For decades, the Barringer Crater in Arizona, with an age of approximately 50,000 years, held this title. While researchers acknowledge a degree of uncertainty in the precise dating of Yilan, the evidence strongly suggests it could be younger. Even if it doesn't definitively claim the title of 'youngest,' its status as the largest impact crater under 100,000 years old is undisputed, surpassing Barringer Crater's 1.2 km diameter.

A peculiar characteristic of the Yilan crater is the missing segment in its southern rim. The exact cause and timing of this erosion remain subjects of ongoing investigation. However, sediment analysis from the crater floor suggests the presence of a former lake within the structure. This implies that the crater was once fully intact, with the lake forming within its basin, before natural processes eventually altered its rim. This discovery is particularly noteworthy as it marks the first impact crater identified in China since the confirmation of the Xiuyan crater in Liaoning province in 2009. The Xiuyan crater, significantly older, spans 1.8 km and dates back between 330,000 and 1.1 million years.

The relative scarcity of discovered impact craters in a country as vast as China has long been a subject of scientific curiosity. However, the Yilan discovery appears to be part of a recent surge in identifying such sites. In September 2023, another Chinese crater of comparable size was found atop a mountain near the North Korean border, with an estimated age of at least 150 million years. More recently, in October 2025, a fourth impact structure, named the Jinlin crater, was confirmed in Guangdong province. This crater, approximately 900 meters wide, might date as recently as the Holocene epoch, though its age requires further confirmation. These ongoing discoveries in China highlight the dynamic geological history of the region and underscore the importance of continued remote sensing and field research in uncovering our planet's past.

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