Researchers Date Greenland Crater Beneath Hiawatha Glacier to 58 Million Years

Ice radar in northwest Greenland revealed a 31-kilometer-wide depression beneath Hiawatha Glacier on November 14, 2018, according to Kjær et al. in Science Advances.

Airborne radar pulses pass through the ice sheet and bounce off underlying rock layers. Researchers spotted a circular depression featuring a raised rim and central uplift, matching large impact structures. Geologists examined sediments brought out by the glacier and found minerals shaped by extreme pressure and heat, confirming a cosmic impact created the basin.

“A large impact crater beneath Hiawatha Glacier in northwest Greenland” was announced by researchers as one of the most remarkable impact structures found in modern times, according to the University of Copenhagen.

Early hypotheses linked the crater to the Younger Dryas cooling period roughly 12,800 years ago due to a lack of precise dating. Researchers gathered meltwater sand and mineral fragments from beneath the glacier to pinpoint when the collision occurred.

A Science Advances study by Kenny et al. published in 2022 dated the Hiawatha structure to approximately 58 million years ago. Argon isotope changes in heated minerals and uranium-lead ratios in zircons provided independent chronological anchors.

The updated timeline places the impact in the late Paleocene epoch, long after non-avian dinosaurs vanished and millions of years before human ancestors appeared. The date rules out any connection to the Younger Dryas climate shift, replacing a popular catastrophe theory with deeper planetary history.

Scientists continue examining whether the impact triggered local environmental changes during a period of active global shifts. Laboratory measurements provide a firm laboratory age, while broader climatic consequences remain under active investigation.

Researchers announced the discovery of the 31-kilometer-wide crater beneath Hiawatha Glacier on November 14, 2018, after analyzing radar data collected over northwest Greenland.

Researchers dated mineral grains and zircons extracted from meltwater sediments using argon isotope analysis and uranium-lead ratios, establishing an age of approximately 58 million years.

No, because the newly established date of roughly 58 million years places the impact in the late Paleocene epoch, long before the Younger Dryas period began about 12,800 years ago.

The impact occurred in the late Paleocene epoch, long after non-avian dinosaurs went extinct.