Buried deep in the ground of the outback of Western Australia geologists have discovered the scars of a large 100 million-year-old meteorite crater.

Signs of the meteorite crater were first detected while a drilling company was digging for gold in private gold fields south of Ora Banda, a former mining town turned ghost town in Western Australia's remote north. With a diameter of about 5km (3 miles), the crater is about five times bigger than Wolfe Creek Crater in Kimberley (one of the largest meteorite impact craters discovered in Australia), according to reports in the Guardian.

 

The crater isn't visible from the surface but a team of geologists led by Perth-based geophysicist Dr Jason Meyers have been able to study it by examining sediment samples, and by carrying out electromagnetic and gravimetric mapping which measure the strength of the crater's gravitational field. The team believe the meteorite struck about 100-million-years-ago but further research is required.