What if I told you North Carolina's peaceful Sandhills once faced a disaster straight out of a sci-fi blockbuster? An AI generated newscast about this ancient catastrophe will leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about Earth's history.

Deep in Moore County, North Carolina, geologists have unearthed evidence of an event so dramatic, it rewrites the region's past. Tucked away in a hillside, they've discovered the Mount Helicon Formation: a stunning sequence of layers capturing the moment a meteor—moving at cosmic speeds—smashed into Earth, unleashing a tsunami that roared across the land. This isn’t just dusty science—this is the real-life story of a world-changing impact, now revealed through the lens of modern AI generated news.

So, what exactly did these scientists find? G. Robert Ganis, a consultant geologist based in Southern Pines, led a team that uncovered a one-yard-thick stack at Paint Hill. In it, four distinct beds tell the story of disaster: The bottom layer is packed with carbon glass, rock fragments, and an astonishing spike in iridium—a rare element on Earth, but common in meteorites. Above it, silt with strange pellets, then a chaotic mix of ripped-up earth and fossil-rich stones, and finally, a blanket of coarse sand left behind by a monstrous tsunami.

This ancient disaster wasn’t random. Scientists tie these layers to the buried Chesapeake Bay impact structure, about 235 miles away, which is the largest known crater in the U.S. and the seventh biggest on the planet. When it hit during the late Eocene, materials blasted sky-high, then rained down over the Carolinas. The force sent shockwaves and a tsunami surging inland, bulldozing everything in its path—leaving behind the clues now found in North Carolina.

Iridium spikes, like the ones found in Paint Hill, have been linked to historic extinction events, including the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. The presence of shocked quartz and rare accretionary lapilli (tiny pellets formed from impact plumes) add even more weight to the story—each detail a forensic breadcrumb pointing to cosmic catastrophe. This is classic detective work for geologists, piecing together the timeline of destruction from the beds: the initial fallout, the lingering debris, the inland rush of water, and finally, the tsunami’s retreat.

Why does this matter? The Mount Helicon Formation isn’t just a scientific curiosity—it’s a regional landmark. It helps connect Eocene-era events across the Atlantic Coastal Plain, giving future researchers a clear marker to map ancient sea levels and catastrophic events. By naming and studying this sequence, geologists now have a common language to unravel the Atlantic’s violent past.

Every stripe in the Paint Hill beds answers a question—about the timing, the fury, and the sheer force of an object from space crashing into our world. Thanks to the AI generated newscast about this shocking ancient tsunami, a quiet Carolina hillside is now one of the clearest windows into a day when the ordinary turned extraordinary. The full study is available in Southeastern Geology, but for now, this AI generated newscast about North Carolina's meteorite mystery proves that even the most tranquil places can hide the wildest stories.