Largest modern crater identified in Chinas Holocene geology

by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Nov 13, 2025

A scientific team in China has confirmed the discovery of the Jinlin crater in Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province. This impact structure, which has been preserved in a thick granite weathering crust, provides new insight into the frequency and scale of meteoritic collisions during the Holocene epoch.

The Jinlin crater measures 900 meters in diameter, making it the largest known impact crater formed in the Holocene period, surpassing the 300-meter-wide Macha crater in Russia. The age estimate, based on local soil erosion data, places the crater's formation in the early-to-mid Holocene, which began approximately 11700 years ago.

Lead author Ming Chen stated, "This discovery shows that the scale of impacts of small extraterrestrial objects on the Earth in the Holocene is far greater than previously recorded."

Researchers have found that the crater was created by a meteorite, although the precise material - iron or stone - is not yet determined. The region's environment, subject to monsoons and high humidity, typically accelerates erosion, but the impact structure remains well-preserved in part due to protective granite layers. Within these layers, scientists identified quartz showing planar deformation features, which are produced only by intense shockwaves from celestial impacts involving pressures from 10 to 35 gigapascals.

Chen noted, "On the Earth, the formation of planar deformation features in quartz is only from the intense shockwaves generated by celestial body impacts, and its formation pressure ranges from 10 to 35 gigapascals, which is a shock effect that cannot be produced by any geological process of the Earth itself."

The research highlights the uneven preservation of impact records globally, owing to geological differences and varying rates of erosion. The discovery of the Jinlin crater adds to the understanding of Earth's impact history and the distribution of small celestial objects.

Chen concluded, "The impact crater is a true record of Earth's impact history. The discovery of the Earth impact crater can provide us with a more objective basis for understanding the distribution, geological evolution, and impact history and regulation of small extraterrestrial bodies."

Research Report: Jinlin crater, Guangdong Province, China: Impact origin confirmed