A double meteor strike is a rare event, but researchers in Sweden have found evidence that two meteors hit the Earth around 458 million years ago in a simultaneous strike.

In the county of Jämtland in central Sweden have been found two craters from the event that took place in the far past of the planet. Researchers from the University of Gothenburg who studied the craters concluded that the meteors landed just a few miles apart, at around the same moment, as Erik Sturkell, a professor of geophysics at the University of Gothenburg explained for Live Science.

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When the meteors slammed into Earth, Jämtland was just a seafloor, about 1,600 feet (500 meters) below the surface of the water at the time when the meteors have hit the Earth. One of the craters left by the meteors measures only about 2,300 feet (700 m) across but the other is huge, measuring 4.7 miles (7.5 kilometers) across. The two craters are located just 10 miles (16 km) apart, according to the online publication Our Amazing Planet.

After analyzing data on-site, the research team determined that the meteors have hit simultaneously the planet and impact craters were formed at the same time. The analysis revealed identical layers of rock present inside each crater, according to Sturkell, as well as accumulated sediment inside the craters dating back to the same time.

Sturkell said in a statement for Eureka Alert that all the data confirms the hypothesis of simultaneous impacts. It is likely that the meteors crashed to Earth following the collision of two large asteroids that took place around 470 million years ago in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the scientist added.

The meteors displaced the water underneath them when they crashed into Earth, leaving for about 100 seconds two huge, dry pits in the seabed, according to the research team.

Sturkell explained that after the double impact the water rushed back in bringing material that had been ejected during the explosion mixed with fragments from the meteorites. A gigantic wave formed after the impact, taking away parts of the seabed, Sturkell added.

Tagsancient Earth, meteors, ancient Earth hit by two meteors, double meteor strike, Jämtland