Massive Meteor Strike Discovered In 2008 May Be The UK's Largest Ever

Back in 2008, scientists in the UK were working and discovered a site near Ullapool, NW Scotland that has evidence of an ancient meteor strike. The meteor strike is dated to about 1.2 billion years in the past. The scientists say that the thickness and extent of the debris deposited suggested the impact crater was made by a meteorite that was 1k wide.

The team knew that the impact was close to the coast, but its precise location was a mystery. Scientists have published a paper that shows how they identified the crater location 15-20km west of a remote part of the Scottish coastline. The impact site was buried beneath the water and younger rocks in the Minch Basin.

Scientist Dr. Ken Amor says that the discovery is exciting because impacts of this sort typically erode quickly. The impact site in this instance was preserved because it happened to land in an ancient rift valley where fresh sediment quickly covered the debris and preserved it. The next step in the investigation is a detailed geophysical survey of the target area in the Minch Basin.

Using a combination of field observations, distribution of broken rock fragments known as basement clasts, and the alignment of magnetic particles the scientists were able to gauge the direction the meteorite material took at several locations and plot the likely source of the crater. The team says that 1.2 billion years ago there were no plants on land and most creatures were still in the ocean. Scottland was close to the equator and in a semi-arid environment.

The team says that Earth and the other planets had more meteorite impacts in the distant past because the planets collided with debris left from the formation of the early solar system. Scientists estimate that the collision with the Earth and an object of 1 km in size happen once every 100,000 years.