Image Courtesy: Shutterstock

Scientists have discovered that a meteorite struck what is now Oklahoma roughly 370 million years ago, nearly 100 million years later than previously believed. The revised timeline changes the crater’s place in Earth’s impact history and could help researchers better understand the causes of ancient mass extinctions.

The Ames impact structure lies beneath the town of Ames, Oklahoma, where sediment has buried the crater for millions of years. Beyond its scientific importance, the structure is also a significant source of oil and gas. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have now established a more precise age for the impact using microscopic mineral crystals preserved in the affected rock.

The findings, published in Meteoritics & Planetary Science in July 2026, challenge the long-standing belief that the Ames crater formed around 467.5 million years ago during the Ordovician Meteor Event, a period associated with numerous meteorite impacts across North America.

The earlier estimate relied on fossilized teeth belonging to conodonts, ancient eel-like marine animals. Although the fossils originated during the Ordovician period, researchers now believe the impact excavated older sediment and mixed the remains into younger rocks. This made the fossils unreliable indicators of when the collision actually occurred.

To establish a more accurate date, the research team analyzed zircon crystals using uranium-lead dating, a technique commonly used to determine the age of geological materials. The crystals recorded an impact approximately 370 million years ago, placing the event in the Late Devonian period.

Researchers also worked with NASA to examine the crystals using specialized imaging techniques. These methods revealed microscopic structural changes associated with the extreme pressure generated during a meteorite impact, helping confirm that the crystals recorded the collision itself.

The revised timeline places the Ames impact close to the Frasnian-Famennian extinction, which occurred around 372 million years ago and eliminated a substantial proportion of marine life. Scientists continue to investigate whether such extinction events were driven by extraterrestrial impacts, massive volcanic activity, or a combination of environmental factors.

The discovery also challenges theories that connect multiple North American craters to a single episode of asteroid debris bombardment during the Ordovician.

By improving the dating of other impact structures, researchers hope to establish a clearer timeline of Earth’s geological history and determine whether meteorite collisions contributed to major changes in life on th