Far below the seafloor, 80 miles off the coast of Yorkshire, rests a notable depression that has long polarized researchers. Might it have been shaped by an extraterrestrial impact, or more prosaically by underground halokinetic activity?
Mystery Resolved Post Decades of Debate
Currently, the protracted academic dispute has at last been settled. The subsea depression, located 2,300 feet the ocean bottom, was very likely formed by a direct hit from an space rock approximately the scale of a large cathedral that hurtled into Earth more than 43 million years ago.
Immense Event and Aftermath
The sizeable asteroid crashed into the ocean, triggering a 330-foot-high giant wave, say scientists. It was probably a catastrophic day for any primitive creatures in the area – though not as bad as the well-known cosmic collision that wiped out the prehistoric giants 66 M years ago.
The Silverpit site is far from the scale of the Mexican crater in Mexico, where an asteroid approximately 6 to 9 miles wide struck Earth, resulting in a mass extinction of a vast majority of biological species. But it remains notable and, as the sole collision crater close to what is now the UK, exceptionally important, say specialists.
Recent Study Resolves Decades-Long Dispute
A lead researcher, a geoscientist from a Scottish institution in Edinburgh who spearheaded the research team, commented that cutting-edge geophysical data had offered them an exceptional look of the crater.
Obtaining definitive evidence was “definitely an exciting moment”, he remarked, characterizing the inquiry as a “long-shot approach”.
The 3.2-kilometer-wide crater, ringed by a 19-kilometer large zone of concentric faults, was initially found in 2002 by oil and gas researchers.
Those who identified it argued it was in fact a hypervelocity impact crater, pointing to characteristics commonly associated with such collisions, like a uplifted center, circular shape, and nested faults.
It was at first believed to be over 60 M years old and sparked news. However some geologists were doubtful, arguing that it had a much more ordinary origin story – likely caused by the shifting of halite deposits at deep underground.
Research Field At First Unconvinced
In 2009, a dispute was held at the Geological Society that Nicholson recalls. “I was a doctoral candidate at the time and it was quite a notable controversy, within academic circles at least.”
“They had the big debate and then they held a vote. It was decisively decided that it was a geological origin. The majority people preferred the routine explanation and I think that highlights a bias to reject the more exciting explanation.”
The vote was four to one rejecting the impact idea, prompting questions about whether researchers are typically cautious. “There are different types of geologist,” said Nicholson. “People say I get too excited by certain ideas.”
Modern Methods Deliver Strong Evidence
Nicholson was asked to examine Silverpit due to his expertise in discovering an additional impact crater in another region.
With financing from the a UK research body, the research team employed seismic imaging, fine-scale analysis of rock samples, and computer models to provide what they state is the best evidence to date that Silverpit is among Earth’s genuine impact craters.
Meteorite collisions are thankfully infrequent, with not a single one happening in written human history. The sites left by such events are also scarce because “plate tectonics and degradation destroy nearly all of evidence of most of these events”, Nicholson explained. “Roughly 200 verified impact craters exist on land and only 33 have been identified beneath the ocean.”
Silverpit is unusually undisturbed and historically important, he noted. “We can utilize these results to understand how meteorite impacts have shaped our planet over history, as well as predict what may happen should we encounter an asteroid collision in the years to come.”
