Scientists To Shed More Light On A Hidden, Ancient Meteorite Crater In Scotland
Researchers are now ready to conduct a complete geophysical survey of a hidden, ancient meteorite crater in Scotland, the so-called The Minch. The structure exists between the Western Isles and mainland Scotland, and the scientists found rocky debris that might prove that an ancient meteorite impact could’ve indeed taken place there.
A team of scientists from Oxford and Aberdeen universities is about to shed more light on the hidden, ancient meteorite crater Scotland, as they believe that they can pinpoint where the space rock hit the Earth in that region. According to Dr. Ken Amor, that ancient meteorite crater is situated at 15-20km west-northwest of Enard Bay.
According to the previous studies in that regard, the impact took place approximately 1.2 billion years ago. Back then, the continents were differently arranged, and the life on Earth was thriving only in oceans. On the eastern side of The Minch, there are some red rocks which form the so-called Stac Fada deposit.
Scientists To Shed More Light On A Hidden, Ancient Meteorite Crater In Scotland
The red rocks of the so-called Stac Fada deposit seem to be the result of the ancient meteorite impact in the region. These rocks present melt particles and shocked quartz that formed at enormous pressures. Shocked quartz is usually evidence of meteorite impacts. The recent studies on the Stac Fada deposit permitted scientists to come up with better calculations on where the impact crater might be located.
“If you imagine debris flowing out in a big cloud across the landscape, hugging the ground, eventually that material slows down and comes to rest. But it’s the stuff out in front that stops first while the stuff behind is still pushing forward and it overlaps what’s in front,” said Dr. Ken Amor.
“That’s what we see, and it gives us a strong directional indicator that we can trace backward (…) What we really need is a new high-resolution geophysical survey – a 3D seismic survey. Unfortunately, being offshore that would cost a lot of money. I shall be putting in a grant proposal to do some seismic work. That would be the first step and would greatly assist the definition of any impact structure,” Dr. Amor added.
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