Popigai impact structure

A roughly 100-kilometer-wide impact structure in Siberia, formed about 35.7 million years ago when an asteroid struck Earth and transformed local graphite into diamonds.

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Impact cratering: The formation of a crater when a planetary body is struck by a high-speed object. The Popigai structure is a large example of this process on Earth.
Eocene–Oligocene extinction event: A major episode of species turnover and extinction around the Eocene–Oligocene boundary, about 34 million years ago. Its timing prompted debate about whether Popigai contributed to environmental stress near the boundary.
Synthetic diamond: Diamond produced through industrial processes rather than mined from natural deposits. Popigai diamonds are natural impact products, unlike diamonds manufactured for industrial use.
Vredefort crater: A deeply eroded impact structure in South Africa, formed about two billion years ago. It is another enormous terrestrial impact structure, but far older and more eroded.
Shock metamorphism: Mineral and rock changes caused by the extreme pressures and temperatures of shock waves. The impact’s shock waves produced distinctive minerals and transformed surrounding rock.
Late Eocene: The final part of the Eocene epoch, spanning approximately 37.8 to 33.9 million years ago. The impact occurred during this interval, before the Eocene–Oligocene boundary.
Diamond: A crystalline form of carbon in which each atom bonds to four neighboring atoms. Popigai is notable for an unusually large deposit of impact-formed diamond.
Chicxulub crater: A buried impact structure beneath Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, associated with the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction. Chicxulub provides a contrast in age, preservation, and evidence for global biological consequences.
Impactite: Rock formed or altered by the heat, pressure, and debris of a meteorite impact. Impact-melt rocks and breccias make up much of the structure’s exposed geology.
Chesapeake Bay impact crater: A buried impact structure beneath Chesapeake Bay, formed about 35 million years ago. Its similar age raised questions about multiple impacts during the late Eocene.