China’s Yilan Crater Could Be Earth’s Youngest Meteor Impact
A 1.85 km-wide crater in Heilongjiang’s Lesser Xing’an mountains, named Yilan, is dated to about 46,000–53,000 years ago and may be the youngest major meteor impact on Earth. It was uncovered with satellite imagery from NASA’s Landsat 8 in 2021 and confirmed by geological evidence (shocked quartz, glass). The southern rim is incomplete, with erosion or other geological events proposed as explanations, and while it may be younger than Meteor Crater, the exact age comparison remains cautious.
