News Earth

The mysterious Hiawatha crater in Greenland is 58 million years old

The impact that carved the crater is too old to have caused the Younger Dryas cold snap

pebbles in the foreground with Greenland's ice sheet in the background

Pebbles at the edge of Greenland’s ice sheet, shown here in 2019, contain zircon crystals that were altered by an impact about 58 million years ago.

Pierre Beck

By Carolyn Gramling

- More than 2 years ago

The powerful impact that created a mysterious crater at the northwestern edge of Greenland’s ice sheet happened about 58 million years ago, researchers report March 9 in Science Advances.