The Burckle crater is an undersea topographic feature about 29 km in diameter in the southwestern Indian Ocean. A team of Earth scientists called the Holocene Impact Working Group proposes the feature to be an impact crater; these claims are disputed by other geologists.

Description

Burckle Crater lies 12500 ft below the surface in the southern Indian Ocean at -30.865°N, 61.365°W. It is east of Madagascar and west of Western Australia, adjacent to the mid-ocean Southwest Indian Ridge.

Impact event and megatsunami hypothesis

Burckle Crater's position was determined in 2006 by the Holocene Impact Working Group using prehistoric chevron dune formations in Australia and Madagascar. Based on a hypothesis that these dunes were formed by a megatsunami resulting from an impact, the researchers were able to triangulate the location of Burckle Crater. In 2009, geologists Jody Bourgeois and R. Weiss challenged the hypothesis that a megatsunami created the chevron dunes. Using a computer model to simulate a tsunami, they argued that the structures are more consistent with aeolian processes. Other Earth scientists also dispute the tsunami origin of the chevrons. Other problems with the claim include: