{"id":473886,"date":"2026-03-13T18:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T18:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/473886\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T18:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T18:32:10","slug":"scientists-reveal-massive-asteroid-hit-the-north-sea-and-triggered-a-330-foot-tsunami-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/473886\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists reveal massive asteroid hit the North Sea and triggered a 330-foot tsunami"},"content":{"rendered":"

A long-running dispute about the origin of a North Sea<\/a> crater<\/a> has finally been settled, as new research finds a massive asteroid<\/a> hit the water and triggered a towering tsunami<\/a> millions of years ago.<\/p>\n

Scientists<\/a> have found that the Silverpit Crater \u2013\u00a0which lies around 700 metres beneath the southern North Sea seabed<\/a>, roughly 80 miles off the coast of Yorkshire \u2013 was formed when an asteroid <\/a>or comet struck the region<\/a> roughly 43 to 46 million years ago, sparking a 330ft tsunami.<\/p>\n

Since geologists first identified the formation in 2002, the 3km-wide crater and its surrounding ring of circular faults spanning about 20km have sparked intense debate.<\/p>\n

But researchers say their new study marks the clearest evidence yet that the structure is one of Earth\u2019s rare impact craters. This confirmation places it in the same category as well-known structures such as the Chicxulub Crater<\/a> in Mexico, which is linked to the dinosaur mass extinction.<\/p>\n

The team used computer modelling and analysed newly available seismic imaging and microscopic geological samples taken from beneath the seabed.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Silverpit Crater lies around 700 metres beneath the southern North Sea seabed, roughly 80 miles off the coast of Yorkshire (Phil Allen (Production Geoscience Ltd) and Simon Stewart (BP))<\/p>\n

Dr Uisdean Nicholson, a sedimentologist in Heriot-Watt University\u2019s School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, who led the investigation, said: \u201cNew seismic imaging has given us an unprecedented look at the crater.<\/p>\n

\u201cSamples from an oil well in the area also revealed rare \u2018shocked\u2019 quartz and feldspar crystals at the same depth as the crater floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were exceptionally lucky to find these \u2013 a real \u2018needle-in-a-haystack\u2019 effort. These prove the impact crater hypothesis beyond doubt, because they have a fabric that can only be created by extreme shock pressures.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scientists say these microscopic minerals form only under the extreme pressures generated during asteroid impacts, providing strong confirmation of the event.<\/p>\n

Early research proposed that the feature was created by a high-speed asteroid impact. Supporters of that idea pointed to its round shape, central peak, and surrounding concentric faults, which are often seen in known impact craters.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A perspective view of the top chalk surface, looking northeast, showing the central crater and its surrounding rings. False colours indicate depth (red\/yellow = shallow; blue\/purple = deep) (Superborsuk\/CC BY-SA 3.0)<\/p>\n

But other scientists suggested different explanations. Some proposed that underground salt movement distorted the rock layers and created the structure. Others argued that volcanic activity may have caused the seabed to collapse.<\/p>\n

In 2009, geologists even voted on the issue. According to a report in the December 2009 issue of Geoscientist magazine, most participants rejected the asteroid impact explanation at the time.<\/p>\n

The latest findings, published in the journal Nature Communications and funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), now appear to overturn that conclusion.<\/p>\n

Dr Nicholson said: \u201cOur evidence shows that a 160-metre-wide asteroid hit the seabed at a low angle from the west.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin minutes, it created a 1.5km high curtain of rock and water that then collapsed into the sea, creating a tsunami over 100 meters high.\u201d<\/p>\n

The impact would have produced a violent explosion at the seafloor and sent enormous waves spreading across the region.<\/p>\n

Professor Gareth Collins, of Imperial College London, who attended the 2009 debate about the crater\u2019s origin and contributed to the new research, said the researchers have \u201cfinally found the silver bullet\u201d to end the debate.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI always thought that the impact hypothesis was the simplest explanation and most consistent with the observations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Nicholson also expressed his excitement about using the new findings for further research into asteroids.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cSilverpit is a rare and exceptionally preserved hypervelocity impact crater.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are rare because the Earth is such a dynamic planet \u2013 plate tectonics and erosion destroy almost all traces of most of these events.<\/p>\n

\u201cAround 200 confirmed impact craters exist on land, and only about 33 have been identified beneath the ocean.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A long-running dispute about the origin of a North Sea crater has finally been settled, as new research…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[98962,169091,169092,169090,169089,169093,90,169094,168925,416,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-473886","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-asteroid-impacts","9":"tag-chicxulub-crater","10":"tag-dr-nicholson","11":"tag-dr-uisdean-nicholson","12":"tag-impact-craters","13":"tag-production-geoscience-ltd","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-seismic-imaging","16":"tag-silverpit-crater","17":"tag-space","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom","20":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}