DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-63985-zA decades-long scientific debate over the origins of the Silverpit Crater in the southern North Sea has been resolved. New evidence confirms that it was caused by an asteroid or comet impact about 43–46 million years ago. The Silverpit Crater sits 700 meters below the seabed in the North Sea, about 80 miles off the coast of Yorkshire. These prove the impact crater hypothesis beyond doubt, because they have a fabric that can only be created by extreme shock pressures. Professor Gareth Collins from Imperial College London was at the Silverpit Crater debate in 2009 and also provided the numerical models for the new study.