Following analysis on the basin in Falkland islands, a team of scientists concluded the basin exhibited traits of a large ancient meteorite impact. The impact crater is among one of the world's largest impact crater.
The basin is located in the Falkland Plateau in the northwest of West Falkland islands. The basin is a huge a 250 kilometers (150 miles) diameter, and scientists from U.S., Argentina, and Paraguay found convincing geophysical evidence of the large ancient meteorite impact on the basin.
Scientists that investigate the basin and its relation to the ancient meteorite impact were led by Max C.L. Rocca from the Argentina’s Planetary Society. Other team members are Michael Rampino, a professor in Department of Biology at the New York University, and geologist Jaime Báez Presser from Paraguay, according to the press release from New York University.
"If the Falklands basin is really an impact crater, and it has some of the most telling features," Rampino said regarding the evidence of ancient meteorite impact. "Then it is one of the largest known.”
The team conducted analysis on the seismic-reflection profiles, and in gravity and magnetic surveys. Based on the result of the analysis, its shows a consistent evidence of an ancient meteorite impact, which predicted to be from 250 million years ago. This could indicate the basin is related to the mass extinction during the Permian period during the last period of Paleozoic Era.
The other geophysical evidence of an ancient meteorite impact was the sediments in the basin. The basin was buried completely by sediments from more recent eras, a clear indication that the basin was formed long before its surroundings. Furthermore, there is no topographic expression found on the present sea floor. The report has been published in the Terra Nova journal.
Although the younger sediment indicated the evidence of an ancient meteorite impact, but the scientists need to confirm their finding. They have taken the sample from the site for further analysis. Watch the report of the finding below:
