* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Lairg impact structure

Blobrana · L

The Stac Fada impact ejecta deposit and the Lairg Gravity Low: evidence for a buried Precambrian impact crater in Scotland?

The Stac Fada Member, an impact ejecta deposit within the Mesoproterozoic Stoer Group, is represented today by just a narrow outcrop, truncated by faulting and erosion, extending for 50 km north-south along the coast of north-west Scotland. It appears to represent a non-erosive Single Layer Ejecta deposit rather than the erosively emplaced Double Layer Ejecta deposits characteristic of terrestrial impact craters and it is unique in preserving spallation debris, ejected very early in the impact process, beneath the ejecta blanket. Various sedimentary structures associated with the Stac Fada Member, from ejecta intrusions along bedding planes immediately beneath it, to erosional troughs eroded into its top, consistently indicate emplacement from the east. No surface manifestation of an impact crater has been identified but there is a remarkable correspondence between its location, as inferred from these directional data, and the position of the Lairg Gravity Low, an ~40 km diameter geophysical anomaly centred more than 50 km east of the closest point on the Stoer Group outcrop.
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See also Stoer Group

Blobrana · L

Giant asteroid struck site of Highland village 1bn years ago

A remote Highland village lies in the centre of a meteorite crater that struck Earth 1.2 billion years ago, scientists have found. The town of Lairg, on the south eastern bank of Sutherlands Loch Shin, was the epicentre of an asteroid that could have been 3km wide according to research.
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58° 1' 12" N, 4° 24' 0" W

Blobrana · L

Biggest asteroid struck Highlands 1 billion years ago

Lairg, a sleepy Highland village next to one of Sutherlands lochs, has hitherto been known for its sheep sale.
Now it may get one of Earths biggest asteroid impacts named after it. Researchers have concluded that this village of 900 people lies in the epicentre of an impact crater from a meteorite that struck 1.2 billion years ago.
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