Researchers confirmed that the Silverpit Crater formed when a 160-meter-wide asteroid struck Earth 43 to 46 million years ago. The impact threw rock and water 1.5 kilometers into the air and triggered a tsunami more than 100 meters high.
The finding settles a decades-old mystery about what formed the Silverpit Crater. It also gives scientists a well-documented example of how an asteroid strike can reshape a coastline and leave a lasting record in seafloor rock, helping them identify other ancient impacts.
✦ A buried North Sea crater records an ancient asteroid strike and immense tsunami.