<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"A scientist has found the world's oldest meteorite crater in Greenland. The giant impact zone is more than 62 miles wide.\nThe crater was formed 3 billion years ago by a meteorite 19 miles wide \u2014 which, if it hit Earth today, would wipe out all higher life. The crater is so wide that it would reach the edge of space 62 miles above Earth if stood on end. \nCopenhagen-based scientist Adam Garde \"discovered\" the crater as he pored over maps showing nickel and platinum abundance in the target region of West Greenland. Garde, a senior research scientist with the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, saw a both simple and extreme explanation for several strange geological features in this region: an impact from a meteorite that may have contained valuable metals.\nA team following up on Garde's research collected samples in 2011 that support his hypothesis, and the results are published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.\n\"The process was rather like a Sherlock Holmes story,\" said science team member Iain McDonald of Cardiff University's School of Earth and Ocean Science in a statement. \"We eliminated the impossible in terms of any conventional terrestrial processes, and were left with a giant impact as the only explanation for all of the facts.\" [Fallen Stars: A Gallery of Famous Meteorites]\nIn the 3 billion years that have elapsed since the impact, the land has eroded down to about 16 miles below the original surface. Lately the Greenland ice sheet has carved and excavated the area. All external parts of the impact structure have thus long gone, but the effects of the intense impact shock wave penetrated deep into the interior of the Earth and these remain visible today, according to the study.\nAbout 180 impact craters have been discovered on Earth, and nearly one third of them contain significant minerals deposits like precious metals. A Canadian mining company, North American Nickel, is currently exploring the region, called Maniitsoq, for minerals.\n\"This single discovery means that we can study the effects of cratering on the Earth nearly a billion years further back in time than was possible before,\" McDonald said.\nPrior to this discovery, the oldest crater was thought to be 2 billion years old and 186 miles wide, located in South Africa. Scientists suspect that there were many more craters formed around 3 billion to 4 billion years ago when Earth lacked a protective atmosphere, but erosion, plate tectonics and other processes have destroyed the vast majority. \nArtist's illustration of meteorite impact courtesy of Carsten Egestal Thuesen, GEUS"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/06/29/oldest-impact-meteorite-crater-greenland/>