The Search for a Massive Meteorite Impact With No Crater

Less than one million years ago, a massive meteorite impact struck Earth and scattered molten rock across multiple continents, creating the Australasian strewnfield — the largest known tektite field on the planet. Impact glass from this event has been found from Southeast Asia to Australia and Tasmania, proving beyond doubt that a large asteroid or meteorite collided with Earth around 788,000 years ago. Despite overwhelming physical, chemical, and geological evidence, the impact crater has never been conclusively identified. This article explores how tektites form, why the Australasian strewnfield confirms a single enormous meteorite impact, and how sea-level change, volcanism, erosion, and tectonics may have erased or hidden one of the largest recent impact craters on Earth.