The discovery came when a geothermal research project drilled out rock from South Australia and the Northern Territory that had been turned to glass; a tell-tale sign that an ancient impact had delivered a very energetic blow. But only on further investigation did Glikson’s team realize the extent of the the impact.

Magnetic modeling of the crust throughout the region revealed bulges, rich in iron and magnesium, pushing upward into the Earth’s crust. These bulges originated from the Earth’s mantle — the thick layer of rock that separates the core from the crust — acting as ancient bruises left over by the cataclysmic impacts.

“There are two huge, deep domes in the crust, formed by the Earth’s crust rebounding after the huge impacts, and bringing up rock from the mantle below,” Glikson said in a press release. The research was published in the journal Tectonophysics this month.

Although the evidence for a massive impact seems clear, some mysteries remain.

Some mysteries remain, huh? I’ll bet they do! You can get more information from this article as well as other scientific facts surrounding other asteroids at  Discovery. I could easily spend all day reading this stuff. But check out the detail in this video on page 3. You'll hear how the scientists discovered it to begin with!

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