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Brazil is home to several impact craters, but current science indicates that no known giant crater in Brazil is linked to the extinction of the dinosaurs, a mystery that continues to center on Chicxulub, Mexico.
The idea that a giant crater in Brazil was a key player in the extinction of the dinosaurs, which occurred around 66 million years ago, arouses great curiosity. The country, in fact, bears the scars of violent cosmic collisions that have occurred throughout its vast geological history.
However, while the Chicxulub crater, in Mexico, is widely accepted as the main cause of the event that decimated non-avian dinosaurs, the analysis of scientific evidence on Brazilian formations, such as the Vargeão Dome, points to other times and contexts, ruling out a direct link with that mass extinction.
Brazil and its marks of cosmic impacts
Unlike the Moon, Earth constantly erases the marks of asteroid impacts due to erosion and plate tectonics. Even so, Brazil has a significant record of these collisions. Among the main confirmed impact structures are the Araguainha Dome (MT/GO), the largest in South America, Serra da Cangalha (TO), Vista Alegre (PR), the Riachão Ring (MA) and the Vargeão Dome (SC). Each requires complex geological studies for confirmation and dating.
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Vargeão Dome: a remarkable crater in Santa Catarina
The Vargeão Dome, located in western Santa Catarina, is an astrobleme (ancient and eroded crater) approximately 12 km in diameter. Formed on volcanic rocks of the Serra Geral Formation, it has a steep relief and a complex internal structure.
Its origin by meteoritic impact is confirmed by shatter cones (conical fractures visible to the naked eye), planar deformation features (PDFs) in quartz grains (microscopic evidence of extreme shock) and impact breccias. Research estimates the age of the impact at approximately 110 million years, in the Cretaceous period.
Dinosaur Extinction: The Role of the Chicxulub Crater
The Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction event 66 million years ago wiped out about 75 percent of the planet's species, including non-avian dinosaurs. Scientific consensus attributes this catastrophe to the impact of a large asteroid that formed the Chicxulub crater in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico.
This crater, 180 to 200 km in diameter, has an age precisely dated at 66,043 million years, coinciding with the layer of iridium (a rare element on Earth, common in meteorites) found globally at the K-Pg boundary. The effects of the impact, such as megatsunamis, global fires and a prolonged “impact winter”, caused the collapse of food chains.
No giant crater in Brazil linked to the end of the dinosaurs, studies say
When comparing the estimated ages of Brazilian craters with the K-Pg event (~66 Ma), a direct link becomes unlikely.
- Vargeão Dome: ~110 Ma or <134 Ma, significantly older.
- Araguainha: ~254.7 Ma, related to the Permian-Triassic extinction.
- Cangalha Mountain Range: ~220 Ma (Triassic).
- Good views: ~115 Ma or <65 Ma (if <65 Ma, would be later than K-Pg).
- Riachão Ring: <200 Ma, no precise dating close to 66 Ma.
Based on current evidence, there is no scientific support for claiming that any known giant crater in Brazil is the “key” to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
The scientific importance of Brazilian craters
Although not connected to the K-Pg extinction, Brazilian craters have great scientific value. The Vargeão Dome and Vista Alegre, formed in basalt, are rare terrestrial analogues for studies of cratering on other planets. Araguainha is crucial to understanding Earth’s greatest mass extinction, the Permian-Triassic, with theories suggesting that the impact may have released methane, exacerbating climate change.
Geological research continues, and future discoveries may reveal new structures or refine dating. Regardless, the craters already known in Brazil tell a fascinating story of cosmic collisions and their consequences for the planet.
