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New research has revealed that a massive meteorite struck northwestern Scotland about 200 million years later than previously thought, in a discovery that not only rewrites the country’s geological history but alters our understanding of the evolution of non-marine life on Earth.

Previously believed to have occurred 1.2 billion years ago, the impact created the , a layer of rock that holds vital clues to Earth’s ancient past, including how meteorite strikes may have influenced the planet’s environment and life.

- a collaboration between the С����Ƶ in the UK, Curtin University in Australia, NASA in the USA, and the University of St Andrews also in the UK - used tiny zircon crystals as geological ‘time capsules’ to date the impact to 990 million years ago.

Lead author , from Curtin’s Frontier Institute for Geoscience Solutions within the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said: “These microscopic crystals recorded the exact moment of impact, with some even transforming into an incredibly rare mineral called reidite, which only forms under extreme pressures.

“This provided undeniable proof that a meteorite strike caused the Stac Fada deposit.

“When a meteorite hits, it partially resets the atomic clocks inside the zircon crystals and these ‘broken timepieces’ are often unable to be dated but we developed a model to reconstruct when the disturbance occurred, confirming the impact at 990 million years ago.”

Professor Kirkland said this impact event occurred at a similar time to the emergence of some of the earliest freshwater , which are the ancient ancestors of plants, animals and fungi. 

“The revised dating suggests these life forms in Scotland appeared at a similar time to a meteorite impact,” Professor Kirkland said.

“This raises fascinating questions about whether large impacts may have influenced environmental conditions in ways that affected early ecosystems.

“While the impact crater itself has yet to be found, this study has collected further clues that could finally reveal its location.

“Understanding when meteorite impacts occurred helps us explore their potential influence on Earth’s environment and the expansion of life beyond the oceans.”

Co-author Professor Rob Strachan, Emeritus Professor at the , added: “The British Isles contains an exceptionally diverse range of rock types of different ages, and yet again it has yielded internationally important evidence for events that occurred early in Earth’s geological evolution.”

Image: The Stac Fada Member. Picture: Tony Prave