How Big Was The Asteroid That Struck North Sea & Led To 330-Feet Tsunami In Europe? Asteroid impact formed Silverpit crater, ending 20-year debate Impact triggered a 330-ft tsunami across Europe Asteroid was about 160 metres wide, size of a football field The impact triggered a mega-tsunami exceeding 100 metres in height. (AI generated for representation) An asteroid roughly 160 metres or 525 feet wide, which is as big as a football field, struck the North Sea 43 to 46 million years ago, creating the 20-kilometre-wide Silverpit crater, according to Science Daily. The impact triggered a mega-tsunami exceeding 100 metres in height, following the discovery of “shocked” quartz and feldspar that confirmed the origin of the crater. For two decades, experts debated whether the North Sea’s Silverpit crater was formed by a 43-million-year-old asteroid impact or, as voted in 2009, by geological salt movement. The debate concluded in 2025 following the discovery of shock-deformed minerals and 3D imaging confirming an impact event, invalidating the salt-withdrawal theory. According to recent reports in Science Daily and research published in Nature Communications, the asteroid that struck the North Sea was approximately 160 metres (525 feet) wide or as big as a football field. Researchers identified “shocked” quartz and feldspar crystals in rock samples from a nearby oil well. These microscopic minerals contain deformation patterns that only form under the extreme shock pressures of a high-velocity space impact. The asteroid struck the seabed at a shallow angle from the west, instantly blasting a 1.5-kilometre-high curtain of rock and water into the air. As this wall of debris collapsed, it triggered a mega-tsunami exceeding 100 metres (330 feet) in height.#silverpit_crater #nature_communications #asteroid_impact #north_sea #science_daily
