Shocked quartz grains in the early Cambrian Vakkejokk Breccia, Sweden—Evidence of a marine impact

Author(s):  
Carl Alwmark ◽  
Jens Ormö ◽  
Arne T. Nielsen

2014 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 1076-1082 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Alwmark ◽  
S. Alwmark-Holm ◽  
J. Ormö ◽  
E. Sturkell


1988 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 1530-1534 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. F. Grieve ◽  
J. Alexopoulos

Quartz grains separated from the Cretaceous–Tertiary (K/T) boundary clay at Scollard Canyon, Alberta, have prominent, microscopic planar features. These occur in 15–30% of the grains from the lower 1.5 cm of the boundary clay. They commonly correspond to the ω and π orientations found at known meteorite impact sites and differ from deformation features produced by other dynamic geologic processes. Basal planar features, however, are absent here and at other K/T sites. One possible explanation is that quartz at boundary sites is an incomplete sample of shocked quartz from the postulated K/T impact and unshocked detrital quartz. The source of the shocked quartz most likely was close to the point of impact and near surface. This and previous isotopic data suggest the K/T target site contained a relatively thin upper unit of quartz-bearing crystalline rocks overlying basaltic material, corresponding possibly to thinned continent or a continental margin.



1994 ◽  
Vol 131 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birger Schmitz ◽  
Lennart Jeppsson ◽  
Johan Ekvall

AbstractAll bentonite and bentonite-resembling layers thicker than a few millimetres from a 120m-thick Early Silurian sequence on Gotland, Sweden, were searched for shocked quartz grains of comet or asteroid impact origin. Although more than 200000 quartz grains from 86 bentonite samples were studied, not one single grain with multiple planar shock features was found. The studied sequence represents sedimentation during a period of about 2 million years. Impact frequencies, estimated from the cratering record and astronomical observations, indicate that during a 2-myr- period on average 20 comet or asteroid bodies larger than 0.5 km in diameter strike the Earth. The number of smaller impacting bodies is many times higher. In the light of this high frequency of impacts, the absence of any shocked-quartz-bearing fallout layer in our sequence indicates that lateral spreading of such ejecta is relatively restricted during small- and medium-scale impact events.The results also show that shocked quartz in general is absent or extremely rare in volcanic ash. This strengthens the case for an impact-related origin of shocked quartz grains in the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary days.



1988 ◽  
Vol 75 (6) ◽  
pp. 307-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Seitz ◽  
B. F. Bohor
Keyword(s):  


2020 ◽  
Vol 55 (10) ◽  
pp. 2206-2223
Author(s):  
Jean‐Guillaume Feignon ◽  
Ludovic FerriÈre ◽  
Hugues Leroux ◽  
Christian Koeberl


2008 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 745-760 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoichiro NAKANO ◽  
Kazuhisa GOTO ◽  
Takafumi MATSUI ◽  
Ryuji TADA ◽  
Eiichi TAJIKA


2010 ◽  
Vol 21 (S1) ◽  
pp. 133-134
Author(s):  
H. J. Hansen ◽  
P. Toft ◽  
Jinnan Tong
Keyword(s):  


2015 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 483-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annelies Hoesel ◽  
Wim Z. Hoek ◽  
Gillian M. Pennock ◽  
Knut Kaiser ◽  
Oliver Plümper ◽  
...  


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanna Holm-Alwmark ◽  
Carl Alwmark ◽  
Ludovic Ferrière ◽  
Matthias M. M. Meier ◽  
Sofie Lindström ◽  
...  

AbstractImpact ejecta formation and emplacement is of great importance when it comes to understanding the process of impact cratering and consequences of impact events in general. Here we present a multidisciplinary investigation of a distal impact ejecta layer, the Blockhorizont, that occurs near Bernhardzell in eastern Switzerland. We provide unambiguous evidence that this layer is impact-related by confirming the presence of shocked quartz grains exhibiting multiple sets of planar deformation features. Average shock pressures recorded by the quartz grains are ~ 19 GPa for the investigated sample. U–Pb dating of zircon grains from bentonites in close stratigraphic context allows us to constrain the depositional age of the Blockhorizont to ~ 14.8 Ma. This age, in combination with geochemical and paleontological analysis of ejecta particles, is consistent with deposition of this material as distal impact ejecta from the Ries impact structure, located ~ 180 km away, in Germany. Our observations are important for constraining models of impact ejecta emplacement as ballistically and non-ballistically transported fragments, derived from vastly different depths in the pre-impact target, occur together within the ejecta layer. These observations make the Ries ejecta one of the most completely preserved ejecta deposit on Earth for an impact structure of that size.



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