Isotopic comparison of K/T boundary impact glass with melt rock from the Chicxulub and Manson impact structures

Article Abstract:

Isotopic comparison of melt rock and glass granules found in Haiti shows that the Chicxulub crater in Mexico is likelier to mark the event that ended the Cretaceous period than is the Manson crater in Iowa. The Haitian glass sample's strontium 87 to strontium 88 ratio was plotted against its oxygen isotope level, yielding a curve. Chicxulub melt rock fell within this curve, while Manson rock fell well above it. The impact probably mixed carbonate with andesitic or granodioritic rock.

Author: Chamberlain, C. Page, Sharpton, Virgil L., Marin, Luis E., Schuraytz, Benjamin C., Blum, Joel D., Hingston, Michael P., Koeberl, Christian
Mexico, Craters

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Petrogenesis of an augite-bearing melt rock in the Chicxulub structure and its relationship to K/T impact spherules in Haiti

Article Abstract:

Chemical analysis of augite-bearing melt rock from the Chicxulub structure on the Yucatan peninsula bears out the hypothesis that an impact at or near the close of the Cretaceous period created the rock. The analysis shows that the melt rocks are not volcanic in origin and that the Chicxulub is the remnant of an impact crater. Similar compositional analysis indicates that glassy spherules from Haiti represent ejecta deposited by the Cretaceous impact.

Author: Kring, David A., Boynton, William V.
Natural history, Haiti, Yucatan Peninsula

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K/T melt glasses

Article Abstract:

The altercation processes that occurred in the Chicxulub structure were probably localized and had different effects on melt rock compositions. Two samples, C1N10 and Y6N17, were found 35 km apart in different melt horizons. The former was relatively free of clast, medium-grained and with probable origins in a deeper horizon. The difference in the two samples' compositions cannot be attributed to albitization.

Author: Kring, David A., Boynton, William V.
Analysis, Rock mechanics, Tektite, Tektites

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Subjects list: Research, Geology, Stratigraphic, Stratigraphy, Cretaceous period, Cryptoexplosion structures
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