Science, Discovery, Tech and Environment · 15 March 2026
Silverpit Crater confirmed as 160-m asteroid strike beneath North Sea
Exam-focused facts from the 15 March 2026 current affairs briefing.
Key facts
- On 11 March 2026 scientists confirmed the Silverpit Crater, 130 km off Yorkshire, is an asteroid impact site formed 43–46 million years ago.
- Heriot-Watt University (HWU) led the study using high-resolution seismic scans and core samples that revealed shocked quartz and deformed feldspars.
- Imperial College London (ICL) simulations matched the 3.2-km-wide crater to a 160-m asteroid hitting at >15 km/s and generating a >100-m tsunami.
- The crater lies 700 m below the modern seafloor within a 20-km ring-fault system and is exceptionally preserved under marine sediments.