Hidden 5-Mile Wide Asteroid Crater Beneath Atlantic Confirmed by Stunning 3D Data

Researchers have definitively confirmed the existence of a massive, 5-mile wide asteroid crater, now named Nadir Crater, hidden deep beneath the Atlantic seafloor. This significant discovery, located on the Guinea Plateau approximately 400 kilometers off the coast of Guinea, West Africa, was revealed through advanced 3D seismic data, according to a recent report by ScienceDaily on October 27, 2025.

The impact event that formed the Nadir Crater occurred approximately 66 million years ago, a timeframe that precisely coincides with the catastrophic Chicxulub event in Mexico, widely linked to the extinction of the dinosaurs. This temporal alignment has sparked considerable scientific interest, as noted by BBC Sky at Night Magazine in November 2024.

Dr. Uisdean Nicholson of Heriot-Watt University first identified the potential crater in 2022 while examining seismic reflection data, as reported by iflscience on August 18, 2022. Initial findings suggested a circular depression over 8.5 kilometers wide, prompting further investigation into its origins.

The crucial confirmation arrived with new, high-resolution 3D seismic data, collected by the global geophysical company TGS. This data provided "beyond reasonable doubt" evidence that an asteroid created the Nadir Crater, according to a statement from Heriot-Watt University on October 27, 2025.

This unprecedented level of detail offers scientists a unique opportunity to study oceanic impacts and their profound consequences, a field where direct evidence is rare. Dr. Nicholson emphasized that there are only about 20 confirmed marine craters worldwide, and none have been captured with such exquisite detail, sciencedaily reported.

The discovery allows researchers to reconstruct the violent minutes following the impact, including towering tsunamis, liquefied rock, and shifting seabeds. This insight is invaluable for understanding Earth's ancient history and the potential effects of future cosmic collisions, as highlighted by Asianet Newsable on October 27, 2025.

• Background and Historical Context: The Nadir Crater's formation 66 million years ago places it at the critical Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary, a period marked by a mass extinction event that wiped out approximately 75% of life on Earth, including non-avian dinosaurs. The much larger Chicxulub crater (around 200 km wide) on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula is the primary suspect for this global catastrophe, as detailed by BBC Sky at Night Magazine in November 2024.

• Discovery and Confirmation Methodology: The crater was initially identified in 2022 by Dr. Uisdean Nicholson of Heriot-Watt University during routine seismic reflection data analysis off the coast of Guinea, West Africa. Subsequent high-resolution 3D seismic data, provided by TGS, allowed researchers to "peel back layers of the ocean floor" and confirm the impact origin with exceptional clarity, as described by Ynetnews on October 13, 2024.

• Characteristics of the Impact: Numerical simulations suggest the Nadir Crater was formed by an asteroid approximately 400 meters (1,300 feet) in diameter, striking an ocean roughly 800 meters (2,600 feet) deep. This impact would have generated a fireball over 5 kilometers in radius, an earthquake of magnitude 6.5-7.0, and tsunamis potentially reaching heights of 800 to 915 meters (2,600 to 3,000 feet) near the impact site, according to sciencedaily.

• Potential Link to the Chicxulub Event: The near-simultaneous timing of the Nadir and Chicxulub impacts raises intriguing questions about their relationship. Scientists hypothesize several scenarios, including the possibility that the Nadir impactor was part of a binary asteroid system with Chicxulub's, or that both were fragments of a larger asteroid that broke apart, or even part of a broader impact cluster, as discussed in Science Advances in August 2022.

• Environmental Consequences and Geological Significance: Beyond the immediate devastation, the impact likely caused the instant vaporization of water and sediment, and the release of substantial quantities of greenhouse gases from shallow buried black shale deposits. This event would have significantly contributed to local environmental changes and offers a unique "natural laboratory" to study the effects of oceanic impacts on Earth's climate and geology, according to Heriot-Watt University on October 27, 2025.

• Future Research and Next Steps: Researchers have submitted a proposal to the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) to drill into the Nadir Crater. This drilling operation aims to recover sediment cores that could provide a more precise age for the impact, offer insights into the shock pressures experienced, and detail the sequence of events that unfolded after the collision, sciencedaily reported.

• Uniqueness and Preservation: Unlike many terrestrial impact craters that are heavily eroded or obscured by geological processes, the Nadir Crater has been remarkably preserved beneath layers of sediment on the Atlantic seafloor. This exceptional preservation allows for an unparalleled detailed study of its structure, including its elevated rim, central uplift, and extensive subsurface deformation, as highlighted by ResearchGate.