100 million years off: UT Austin researchers say meteor hit Oklahoma later than thought

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FOX Local
Published October 9, 2026 4:30 PM CDT

(Credit: Google Gemini/AI illustration)

The Brief

    • Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have made a new discovery adjusting the timeline of a meteor impact in Ames, Oklahoma.
    • The impact is believed to have happened nearly 100 million years later than previously thought, putting it in the same time period as a mass extension event.
    • Previous studies relied on teeth from an ancient eel-like creature to date the site, but researchers said zircon crystals have offered a more accurate picture.

AUSTIN, Texas - Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin recently made a new discovery that rewrites a part of Oklahoma history. 

What we know:

A meteor is believed to have struck what is now the small town of Ames, Oklahoma nearly 100 million years later than scientists previously thought. 

UT researchers examined the ages of zircon crystals found at the miles-wide impact site and said they realized the meteor must have hit the area about 370 million years ago, not 467 million years ago. 

"No matter what technique we used, it was coming back to this younger signal," said lead author Elizabeth Catlos, associate professor at UT’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.

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The backstory:

The age of the impact site was initially determined based on the age of a set of teeth that were found in the rock. The teeth belonged to an ancient eel-like creature called a conodont.

However, researchers said this method was misleading as the teeth were likely already millions of years old when the meteor hit Oklahoma. 

Meteor impact happened during mass extinction event

Dig deeper:

They were able to confirm their recent discovery by working with NASA to image the zircon crystals, which recrystallize in situations like a meteor impact. 

The adjusted age of the meteor impact now puts it in the same time period as a mass extinction event that wiped out a large portion of marine life on Earth, researchers said. 

Why you should care:

Today, the meteor impact site serves as a major oil and gas producer for Oklahoma, but researchers noted that a better understanding of its past contributes to a broader understanding of Earth’s history. 

"These small crystals allow us to go back in time and learn about the major changes to Earth's ancient landscapes," said Danny Stockli, dean of the Jackson School of Geosciences and a co-author of the study. "It would be great to do this for more of the meteor impact sites across the continent so we could get a more accurate timeline for these major events."

The Source: The information in this article comes from a press release from the University of Texas at Austin. 

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