Curtin scientists unearth rare mineral from buried WA impact crater
Curtin University researchers studying core samples taken near Shark Bay have discovered an ultra-rare mineral from what may be the largest-known meteorite impact crater in Australia.
The mineral, named reidite, only forms in rocks that experience the incredible pressure created when rocks from space slam into the Earth’s crust. Reidite starts as the common mineral zircon and transforms to reidite during the pressure of impact, making it incredibly rare and only the sixth-known crater on Earth where the mineral has been found.