Shiva crater

The Shiva crater is an idea suggested by paleontologist Sankar Chatterjee and his team. They believe that two deep areas in the ocean floor off the coast of Mumbai, called the Bombay High and Surat Depression, might be a huge crater made by a space rock. If true, this crater would be about 500 kilometers wide and formed near the end of the time when dinosaurs lived.

Some scientists think this crater could have played a part in a big event that changed Earth long ago, called the K-Pg extinction event. This event caused many plants and animals, including the dinosaurs, to disappear.

However, not all scientists agree. Many say there is no proof that these ocean areas are actually from a space rock hitting Earth. They think it is just a natural shape made by other forces. So, the idea of the Shiva crater is still being studied and talked about by scientists.

Arguments

Some scientists believe the Shiva crater formed around 65 million years ago, close to when many other impact craters appeared and when many animals and plants went extinct, called the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. If proven true, the Shiva crater would be the largest known impact crater on Earth, made by a very large asteroid or comet.

Others disagree. Some experts say there is no proof that Shiva is an impact crater. They argue that the shape and location do not match what we usually see in impact craters.