Scientists have discovered a huge underwater crater which is believed to have been made around 66 million years ago by an asteroid according to a report.Although it’s not the asteroid thought to have caused the extincture of dinosaurs, but the crater could be formed in the same period.
The findings on the crater’s location and theories has been published by the journal Science Advances on Thursday. The Nadir crater is located 248 miles from on the shores off West Africa, the Nadir crater might alter the way we had believed to be the facts about this moment in the history of nature.
The study states that the crater measures in the total of 5 miles it is thought to be due to an asteroid that was more than 1,300 feet across.
The Chicxulub crater that lies off on the shores of Mexico was struck with a much smaller asteroid however, it nevertheless resulted in the mass extinction of a large portion of the living. If an asteroid had created this crater could have caused significant destruction to the Earth as per research.
Uisdean Nicholson from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh shared with CNN that he came across the crater on accident while the seismic data was being reviewed for a different project.
He explained that as he was studying the data gathered He stumbled across the crate-like structure which “had all the characteristics of an impact crater.”
While they’re not entirely certain whether an asteroid’s strike was the cause, the crater has all the features that scientists have been accustomed to, such as the high rims’ elevation and the central uplift’s elevation as well as the ratio of the width of the crater to depth.
However, to determine whether it was an impact from a space rock scientists, they would have to go through the crater to analyze the minerals found there.
However, if the cause was by an asteroid Nicholson claims the repercussions could be cataclysmic.
“There would have been a large earthquake (magnitude 6.5 – 7), so significant ground shaking locally,” Nicholson told CNN. “The air blast would have been heard across the globe, and would have itself caused severe local damage across the region.”