New proof confirms Yorkshire North Sea asteroid affect

Scientists have discovered proof that an asteroid hit the North Sea greater than 43 million years in the past inflicting an enormous tsunami and leaving a 1.9 mile (3km) huge crater beneath the seabed.

The Silverpit Crater is round 80 miles (128 km) off the East Yorkshire coast and was found in 2002.

Since then geologists have disagreed over the way it was shaped with some claiming it was brought on by the motion of salt rock or the collapse of the seabed due to volcanic exercise.

Now a brand new examine utilizing seismic imaging and analysing rock samples signifies it was brought on by a 535ft (160m) huge asteroid crashing into the Earth.

Dr Uisdean Nicholson, affiliate professor at Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University, stated new know-how had helped to resolve the thriller of the crater’s origins.

He stated the analysis group, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, had recovered uncommon “shocked” quartz samples which settled the argument.

“We were exceptionally lucky to find these, a real needle-in-a-haystack effort,” he stated.

“These prove the impact crater hypothesis beyond doubt, because they have a fabric that can only be created by extreme shock pressures.”

Dr Nicholson stated the affect would have brought about a 328ft (100m) excessive tsunami of water.

The crater lies beneath the present seabed and isn’t seen, so scanning tools, which Dr Nicholson described as “like ultrasound for the earth”, was used to map it.

The professor stated such craters had been very uncommon with “around 200 confirmed impact craters exist on land and only about 33 have been identified beneath the ocean”.

Other websites embrace the Chicxulub Crater in Mexico brought on by an asteroid affect 66 million years in the past that’s believed to have led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.

“We can use these findings to understand how asteroid impacts shaped our planet throughout history,” Dr Nicholson stated.

“As well as predict what could happen should we have an asteroid collision in future.”

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