It’s not unusual for TGS data and experts to be featured in science journals, but it's certainly noteworthy when their work appears in the renowned independent journal Nature garnering international media attention with the headline: "The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs was not alone."
The study, led by Uisdean Nicholson at Heriot-Watt University, saw TGS play a crucial role. In 2019, TGS geoscientist Felicia Winter shared data with PhD students conducting research on the Guinea shelf. Winter and Nicholson noted, "It was a head-scratcher; the unusual feature on 2D seismic imaging could have been anything—from a volcano to a gas cap collapse—but it didn't quite fit the expected patterns." By 2020, geoscientist Bill Powell and his team were finalizing new 3D data covering this feature, and it became quite clear they were looking at a Cretaceous impact crater of significant size, seemingly undisturbed and well-preserved. They interpreted the structure as a complex meteorite impact crater. "Sometimes, you see something truly spectacular," a conclusion Nicholson and his team had independently reached.
TGS supported subsequent research, contributing to an application for steering an international ocean drilling project vessel to the Guinea shelf. Fast forward to 2024: the crater is now comprehensively mapped, the drilling campaign has been approved, and this significant discovery has been shared with the world. We are now eagerly awaiting the results of the drilling campaign in the coming years, which could further reveal new insights from this scientific breakthrough.
⚡ Quick digest: https://hubs.ly/Q02S7GvV0
📖 Full technical article: https://lnkd.in/eSptEadc
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