Chicxulub, the asteroid that wiped out most dinosaurs, might have had a little sibling.
Off the coast of West Africa, hundreds of meters beneath the seafloor, scientists have identified what appears to be the remains of an 8.5-kilometer-wide impact crater, which they’ve named Nadir. The team estimates that the crater formed roughly around the same time that another asteroid — Chicxulub, the dinosaur killer — slammed into modern day Mexico (SN: 1/25/17). If confirmed, it could mean that nonbird dinosaurs met their demise by a one-two punch of asteroids, researchers report in the Aug. 17 Science Advances.
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