The Silverpit crater below the North Sea was caused by a huge asteroid, which triggered a tsunami 100 meters 43 million years ago.
Illustration of a large asteroid that collides with the photo: x
The Silverpit crater, 700 meters below the bottom of the sea, below the North Sea, was, in all probability, created by the direct kick of an asteroid or a comet of the York Minster dimension.
The asteroid, with a width of 160 meters, collapsed in the sea, causing a tsunami 100 meters high, say the scientists quoted by The Guardian.
The Silverpit crater is not far from the size of the Chicxulub crater in Mexico, when an asteroid with a width of about 10 to 14 kilometers hit the ground, resulting in a mass extinction of 75% of the species of plants and animals.
Uisdean Nicholson, sedimentologist at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, who led the research team, said “The new seismic images gave them an unprecedented perspective on the crater. ”
Obtaining evidence was “Certainly an interesting moment,” he said, describing the investigation as being “A needle approach in the hay car.”
The crater, with a width of 3 km, surrounded by a 20 km wide circular faults, was discovered in 2002 by gearcetators in the field of oil.
Those who discovered it believed that it was indeed a hypervelocean impact crater, indicating the characteristics often associated with them, including a central tip, a circular shape and concentric faults.
Initially it was estimated to be over 60 million years old and has reached the front page of newspapers. “The crater could be the blow of an asteroid ”, he could read in a report of The Guardian at the time.
Some scientists were not convinced, arguing that it has a much less interesting origin story – it was most likely caused by the movement of the salt rocks at depth.
