科学家确认，北海海底的银坑陨石坑是由一颗宽约160米的小行星在4300万至4600万年前撞击地球所形成1。这次撞击产生了1.5公里高的岩石和水柱，并引发了超过100米（330英尺）高的海啸1。陨石坑位于北海南部，英国约克郡东海岸约80英里处，深度约700米，陨石坑本身宽约3公里，周围环绕着20公里宽的环形断层1。
赫瑞瓦特大学研究团队通过地震成像、岩石样本显微检查和计算机模拟，发现了决定性证据以确认撞击事件1。研究人员在陨石坑中发现了"冲击"石英和长石晶体，这些晶体的内部结构只能在极端冲击压力下形成1。这项研究已发表在《自然通讯》杂志2025年第16卷第1期上1。
根据现有记录，全球已确认约200个陆地撞击坑和约33个海洋撞击坑1，银坑陨石坑成为迄今确认的重要海洋撞击事件的证据。
Scientists have confirmed that the Silver Pit crater on the North Sea seabed was formed by a 160-meter-wide asteroid that struck Earth between 43 and 46 million years ago 1. The impact generated a rock and water column reaching 1.5 kilometers high and triggered a tsunami exceeding 100 meters in height 1. Researchers from Heriot-Watt University employed seismic imaging, microscopic examination of rock samples, and computer simulations to identify definitive evidence, including shocked quartz and feldspar crystals whose internal structures can only form under extreme impact pressures 1.
The Silver Pit crater, located approximately 80 miles off the east coast of Yorkshire in southern North Sea waters, spans roughly 3 kilometers across with surrounding ring faults extending 20 kilometers wide and descending 700 meters below the seafloor 1. This discovery adds to the growing catalog of confirmed extraterrestrial impact sites, joining approximately 200 recognized terrestrial impact craters and about 33 identified oceanic impact craters globally 1. The research was published in Nature Communications Volume 16, Issue 1 in 2025, with the crater initially discovered in 2002 and subsequently studied through academic review in 2009 1.
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