Shiva crater

The Shiva crater is an idea suggested by paleontologist Sankar Chatterjee and his team. They think two deep parts in the ocean near Mumbai, called the Bombay High and Surat Depression, might be a huge crater from a space rock hitting Earth. If true, this crater would be very big — about 500 kilometers wide — and formed near the time when dinosaurs lived.

Some scientists believe this crater might have helped cause a big change on Earth long ago, called the K-Pg extinction event. This event made many plants and animals, including dinosaurs, disappear.

But not all scientists agree. Many say there is no proof these ocean parts are from a space rock. They think it is just a natural shape made by other forces. So, the idea of the Shiva crater is still being studied by scientists.

Arguments

Some scientists think the Shiva crater formed about 65 million years ago. This was close to when many animals and plants went extinct, called the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. If true, the Shiva crater would be the biggest known impact crater on Earth. It would have been made by a very large asteroid or comet.

Others disagree. Some experts say there is no proof that Shiva is an impact crater. They think the shape and location do not look like other impact craters.