The hottest place in the history of the Land was in the territory of modern Canada
About 40 million years ago when a meteorite collided with the Earth on the territory of modern Canada, the temperature at the point of collision amounted to 2370° C, which is approximately two times less than on the surface of the Sun. This is the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth.
The study of the rocks at the point of fall of the meteorite was published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
Previously, scientists were unable to record accurate temperatures above 2000° C due to the fact that rocks at this temperature, evaporate. But thanks to the canadian lake Mistastin, located on the Labrador Peninsula, they succeeded. The lake is located in the impact crater, which was formed as a result of the meteorite fall that occurred about 38 million years ago.
To determine the temperature at the point of incidence of the crater scientists helped the mineral zircon. Geologists from University of a name of John Certina in Perth (Australia) found that in the crater zircon turned into zirconium dioxide. He became a kind of thermometer, because this metamorphosis takes place at a temperature not less than 2370° C.
“No one had ever considered the Zirconia as an indicator of temperatures, — said one of the authors of the article Nicholas Timms. — The first time we were able to capture that rocks could be so hot”.
The results will help to better understand what were the temperature conditions at the Earth’s surface over 4 billion years ago when Earth was repeatedly bombarded from space.