Remains of the Québec meteorite in England

2002/11/15 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Geologia

About 214 million years ago, a meteorite hit Québec and opened on earth a crater of 100 kilometers in diameter. The crater is huge: astronauts can see it from space without any help.

The explosion caused by the meteorite had 40 million more forces than the bomb that was emitted in Hiroshima. This strong explosion caused the release of numerous rocks, some of which have been discovered by geologists in England, near Bristol.

It seems that in Bristol the rocks were collected long ago, but so far no one has worried to study their composition. According to geologists, they have a structure similar to that of the rocks discovered around other craters, a very particular composition of crystals and minerals.

It is the first time that in Britain there are remnants of the impact of a meteorite. To explain how the rocks travelled from Canada to Great Britain it should be noted that about 214 million years ago the Atlantic Ocean and Europe and North America were much closer. The rocks liberated by impact traveled along many kilometers and geologists believe that from now on they will also find themselves more.