A long-running debate about a mysterious crater hidden beneath the North Sea has finally been settled. Researchers have confirmed that the Silverpit Crater was created when an asteroid or comet slammed into the region roughly 43 to 46 million years ago.
The finding resolves a scientific argument that has lasted for more than two decades and identifies Silverpit as one of Earth's relatively rare impact craters, geological scars left behind when space rocks strike the planet at tremendous speeds.
The research team, led by Dr. Uisdean Nicholson of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), combined advanced seismic imaging, microscopic analysis of rock samples, and computer simulations to build the strongest case yet for an extraterrestrial impact. Their results were published in the journal Nature Communications.
A Hidden Crater Beneath the North Sea
The Silverpit Crater lies about 700 meters (2,300 feet) beneath the floor of the southern North Sea, approximately 80 miles from the Yorkshire coast.
