{"id":444875,"date":"2025-09-23T04:14:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T04:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/444875\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T04:14:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T04:14:10","slug":"scientists-find-proof-that-an-asteroid-hit-the-north-sea-more-than-43-million-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/444875\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists find proof that an asteroid hit the North Sea more than 43 million years ago"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Scientists<\/p>\n

Crater surface morphology and seismic attributes of horizons CF1 and CF2 at the crater floor. Credit: Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038\/s41467-025-63985-z<\/p>\n

A decades-long scientific debate over the origins of the Silverpit Crater in the southern North Sea has been resolved. New evidence confirms that it was caused by an asteroid or comet impact about 43\u201346 million years ago.<\/p>\n

A team led by Dr. Uisdean Nicholson from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh used seismic imaging<\/a>, microscopic analysis of rock cuttings and numerical models to provide the strongest evidence yet that Silverpit is one of Earth’s rare impact craters. Their findings are published<\/a> in Nature Communications.<\/p>\n

The Silverpit Crater sits 700 meters below the seabed in the North Sea, about 80 miles off the coast of Yorkshire.<\/p>\n

Since its discovery in 2002, the 3 km\u2013wide crater, which is surrounded by a 20 km\u2013wide zone of circular faults, has been at the center of a heated debate among geologists.<\/p>\n

Initial studies suggested it was an impact crater. The scientists who found it pointed to its central peak, circular shape and concentric faults, characteristics often associated with hypervelocity impacts.<\/p>\n

However, alternative theories argued that the crater structure was caused by salt moving deep below the crater floor<\/a> or the collapse of the seabed because of volcanic activity.<\/p>\n

In 2009, geologists put the crater’s formation to a vote, as reported in that year’s December issue of Geoscientist magazine\u2014a majority voted against the impact crater hypothesis.<\/p>\n

New evidence has proved them wrong.<\/p>\n

The Heriot-Watt-led team used newly available seismic imaging data and evidence from below the seabed to prove the impact theory.<\/p>\n

Dr. Nicholson, a sedimentologist in Heriot-Watt University’s School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, said, “New seismic imaging has given us an unprecedented look at the crater.<\/p>\n

“Samples from an oil well in the area also revealed rare ‘shocked’ quartz and feldspar crystals at the same depth as the crater floor.<\/p>\n

“We were exceptionally lucky to find these\u2014a real ‘needle-in-a-haystack’ effort. These prove the impact crater hypothesis beyond doubt, because they have a fabric that can only be created by extreme shock pressures.<\/p>\n

“Our evidence shows that a 160 meter\u2013wide asteroid hit the seabed at a low angle from the west.<\/p>\n

“Within minutes, it created a 1.5-kilometer high curtain of rock and water that then collapsed into the sea, creating a tsunami over 100 meters high.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Professor Gareth Collins from Imperial College London was at the Silverpit Crater debate in 2009 and also provided the numerical models for the new study. “I always thought that the impact hypothesis was the simplest explanation and most consistent with the observations,” Professor Collins said.<\/p>\n

“It is very rewarding to have finally found the silver bullet. We can now get on with the exciting job of using the amazing new data to learn more about how impacts shape planets below the surface, which is really hard to do on other planets. “<\/p>\n

Dr. Nicholson said, “Silverpit is a rare and exceptionally preserved hypervelocity impact crater.<\/p>\n

“These are rare because the Earth is such a dynamic planet\u2014plate tectonics and erosion destroy almost all traces of most of these events.<\/p>\n

“Around 200 confirmed impact craters exist on land, and only about 33 have been identified beneath the ocean.<\/p>\n

“We can use these findings to understand how asteroid impacts shaped our planet throughout history, as well as predict what could happen should we have an asteroid collision in future.”<\/p>\n

The confirmation of Silverpit as an impact crater<\/a> places it alongside structures such as the Chicxulub Crater in Mexico\u2014linked to the mass extinction of the dinosaurs\u2014and the Nadir Crater off West Africa, which was recently confirmed as an impact site.<\/p>\n

More information:<\/strong>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUisdean Nicholson et al, Multiple lines of evidence for a hypervelocity impact origin for the Silverpit Crater, Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038\/s41467-025-63985-z<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tProvided by
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHeriot-Watt University<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCitation<\/strong>:
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tScientists find proof that an asteroid hit the North Sea more than 43 million years ago (2025, September 22)
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tretrieved 23 September 2025
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfrom https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2025-09-scientists-proof-asteroid-north-sea.html\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
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