Glass, B. P. (2002): Distal impact ejecta from the Chesapeake Bay impact structure

Leg/Site/Hole:
ODP 150
ODP 170
DSDP 95
DSDP 95 612
ODP 170 1040
ODP 150 903
Identifier:
2005-009118
georefid

Creator:
Glass, B. P.
University of Delaware, Geology Department, Newark, DE, United States
author

Identification:
Distal impact ejecta from the Chesapeake Bay impact structure
2002
In: Anonymous, Geological Society of America, 2002 annual meeting
Geological Society of America (GSA), Boulder, CO, United States
34
6
466
Microtektites, belonging to the North American (N.A.) tektite strewn field, have been found in upper Eocene sediments on Barbados and in sediment cores from the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and NW Atlantic Ocean with the highest concentration in the NW Atlantic. Unmelted impact ejecta (e.g., quartz with planar deformation features, coesite, stishovite) have been found in the microtektite layer. A high-pressure polymorph of zircon also was discovered in the layer and has been given the name reidite. It has been proposed that the Chesapeake Bay impact structure (CBIS) may be the source crater for the N.A. tektites strewn field. DSDP Site 612, approximately 330 km NNE of the CBIS, contains an 8-cm-thick layer containing approximately 65% tektite glass and approximately 30% unmelted ejecta. At Ocean Drilling Program Site 904, approximately 4 km NNW of Site 612, the layer is approximately 5 cm thick and contains approximately 50% tektite glass and 40% unmelted ejecta. At ODP Sites 903 and 1040, approximately 13 km NNW of Site 612 and 62 km NNE of Site 612, respectively, an impact ejecta layer of equivalent age contains only unmelted ejecta. This suggests that the glass may be distributed in a ray pattern. In the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and on Barbados the estimated thickness (based on number of microtektites/cm (super 2) ) of the microtektite layers ranges between 0.017 and 0.155 cm and the ejecta are composed of >99% glass. Thus, the thickness of the ejecta layer decreases and the percent glass increases away from the CBIS. In addition, the glass fragment/spherule ratio decreases away from the CBIS. The thickness of the N.A. microtektite/ejecta layer and its distance from the CBIS (at six sites) indicate that the source crater diameter should be approximately 46+ or -18 km. Considering the error, this is close to the diameter of the central basin of the CBIS.
English
Coverage:Geographic coordinates:
North:38.5618
West:-86.1045East: -72.4625
South:9.3943

Geomorphology; Antilles; Atlantic Ocean; Barbados; Caribbean region; Caribbean Sea; Cenozoic; Chesapeake Bay; Chesapeake Bay impact structure; Deep Sea Drilling Project; DSDP Site 612; ejecta; Eocene; errors; Gulf of Mexico; impact craters; impact features; IPOD; Leg 150; Leg 170; Leg 95; Lesser Antilles; microtektites; North Atlantic; Northwest Atlantic; Ocean Drilling Program; ODP Site 1040; ODP Site 903; Paleogene; spherules; tektites; Tertiary; United States; upper Eocene; West Indies;

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