Crater Formed by Meteorite Collision Found in Greenland under Ice

by Ernest Thomas
Crater Formed by Meteorite Collision Found in Greenland under Ice

The mother nature never fails to amuse the human beings. Recently, the scientists have discovered the massive crater in Greenland, which was created by the meteorite collision millions of years ago. According to scientists, they have found an 18-Mile Diameter crater, which was formed almost three million years ago after a 10-Billion-ton meteorite crashed on the spot. The meteor crashed with the speed of 12 miles per second, releasing 47 million times more energy than the Atomic Bomb that was dropped on the Hiroshima City in Japan by the United States of America. The impact was so substantial that the ice in a massive amount in the Greenlands melted immediately and became the part of surrounding oceans.

The scientists are not sure about the exact time of the collision but the approximate time is between 12,000 years and three million years. This is not the first case of the meteorite collision on the earth, as there are approximately 24 craters on the planet created by the similar impacts years ago.  Although the scientists spotted the cavity in the year 2015, it took 3 years to dig down and find the substantial evidence.

Scientists use the data from RadioGlaciology department of NASA to spot the crater first in the year 2015. Professor Kjær, lead researcher of the team from the University of Copenhagen said: “We immediately knew this was something special, but at the same time it became clear that it would be difficult to confirm the origin of the depression,”. According to the data analysed by the researches, the Meteorite penetrated 7 km deep into the earth crust and made a crater that was initially 20 km wide but became 31 km wide due to other reasons. The scientists had to penetrate through a kilometre-thick ice sheet to reach to the crater and extract the soil, which proved that it was a meteorite crater.

You may also like

Leave a Comment