Acraman – Bunyeroo impact event (Ediacaran), South Australia,and environmental consequences: twenty-five years on

Multidisciplinary research during the past 25 years has established that the Acraman impact structure in the 1.59 Ga Gawler Range Volcanics on the Gawler Craton, and an ejecta horizon found 240?–?540 km from Acraman in the ??580 Ma Bunyeroo Formation in the Adelaide Fold Belt and Dey Dey Mudstone in the Officer Basin, record a Late Neoproterozoic (Ediacaran) event of major environmental importance. Research since 1995 has verified Acraman as a complex impact structure that has undergone as much as 3?–?5 km of denudation and which originally had a transient cavity up to 40 km in diameter and a final structural rim possibly 85?–?90 km in diameter. The estimated impact energy of 5.2?×?10⁶ Mt (TNT) for Acraman exceeds the threshold of 10⁶ Mt nominally set for global catastrophe, and the impact probably caused a severe perturbation of the Ediacaran environment. The occurrence of the impact at a low palaeolatitude (12.5 +?7.1/???6.1°) may have magnified the environmental effects by perturbing the atmosphere in both hemispheres. These findings are consistent with independent data from the Ediacaran palynology of Australia and from isotope and biomarker chemostratigraphy that the Acraman impact induced major biotic change. Future research should seek geological, isotopic and biological imprints of the Acraman?–?Bunyeroo impact event across Australia and on other continents.     

Gnargoo: a possible 75 km-diameter post-Early Permian – pre-Cretaceous buried impact structure,Carnarvon Basin,Western Australia

The Gnargoo structure is located on the Gascoyne Platform, Southern Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia, and is buried beneath about 500 m of Cretaceous and younger strata. The structure is interpreted as being of possible impact origin from major geophysical and morphometric signatures, characteristic of impact deformation, and its remarkable similarities with the proven Woodleigh impact structure, about 275 km to the south on the Gascoyne Platform. These similarities include: a circular Bouguer anomaly (slightly less well-defined at Gnargoo than at Woodleigh); a central structurally uplifted area comprising a buried dome with a central uplifted plug; and the lack of a significant magnetic anomaly. Gnargoo shows a weakly defined inner 10 km-diameter circular Bouguer anomaly surrounded by a broadly circular zone, ～75 km in diameter. The north?–?south Bouguer anomaly lineament of the Giralia Range (a regional topographic and structural feature) terminates abruptly against the outer circular zone which is, in turn, intersected on the eastern flank by the Wandagee Fault. A <?28 km-diameter layered sedimentary dome of Ordovician to Lower Permian strata, surrounding a cone-shaped, central uplift plug of 7?–?10 km diameter, are inferred from the seismic data. Seismic-reflection data indicate a minimum central structural uplift of 1.5 km, as compared to a model uplift of 7.3 km calculated from the outer structural diameter. An interpretation of Gnargoo in terms of a plutonic or volcanic caldera/ring origin is unlikely as these features display less regular geometry, are typically smaller and no volcanic rocks are known in the onshore Gascoyne Platform. An interpretation of Gnargoo as a salt dome is likewise unlikely because salt structures tend to have irregular geometry, and no extensive evaporite units are known in the Southern Carnarvon Basin. Morphometric estimates of the rim-to-rim diameter based on seismic data for the central dome correspond to the observed diameter deduced from gravity data, and fall within the range of morphometric parameters of known impact structures. The age of Gnargoo is constrained between the deformed Lower Permian target rocks and unconformably overlying undeformed Lower Cretaceous strata. Because of its large dimensions, if Gnargoo is an impact structure, it may have influenced an environmental catastrophe during this period.     

QIANGTANG MASSIF CRUST DEFORMATION FEATURES, DIFFERENCE AND ITS GENETIC MECHANISM STUDY

QIANGTANG MASSIF CRUST DEFORMATION FEATURES, DIFFERENCE AND ITS GENETIC MECHANISM STUDY     

Woodleigh,Southern Carnarvon Basin,Western Australia: history of discovery,Late Devonian age,and geophysical and morphometric evidence for a 120 km-diameter impact structure

The discovery of the Woodleigh impact structure, first identified by R. P. Iasky, bears a number of parallels with that of the Chicxulub impact structure of K?–?T boundary age, underpinning complications inherent in the study of buried impact structures by geophysical techniques and drilling. Questions raised in connection with the diameter of the Woodleigh impact structure reflect uncertainties in criteria used to define original crater sizes in eroded and buried impact structures as well as limits on the geological controls at Woodleigh. The truncation of the regional Ajana?–?Wandagee gravity ridges by the outer aureole of the Woodleigh structure, a superposed arcuate magnetic anomaly along the eastern part of the structure, seismic-reflection data indicating a central >?37 km-diameter dome, correlation of fault patterns between Woodleigh and less-deeply eroded impact structures (Ries crater, Chesapeake Bay), and morphometric estimates all indicate a final diameter of 120 km. At Woodleigh, pre-hydrothermal shock-induced melting and diaplectic transformations are heavily masked by pervasive alteration of the shocked gneisses to montmorillonite-dominated clays, accounting for the high MgO and low K₂O of cryptocrystalline components. The possible contamination of sub-crater levels of the Woodleigh impact structure by meteoritic components, suggested by high Ni, Co, Cr, Ni/Co and Ni/Cr ratios, requires further siderophile element analyses of vein materials. Although stratigraphic age constraints on the impact event are broad (post-Middle Devonian to pre-Early Jurassic) high-temperature (200?–?250°C) pervasive hydrothermal activity dated by K?–?Ar isotopes of illite?–?smectite indicates an age of 359?±?4 Ma. To date neither Late Devonian crater fill, nor impact ejecta fallout units have been identified, although metallic meteoritic ablation spherules of a similar age have been found in the Canning Basin.     

Ediacaran ice-rafting and coeval asteroid impact,South Australia: insights into the terminal Proterozoic environment

Isolated quartzose pebbles, clusters of quartz granules, orthogonal aggregates of poorly sorted quartzose coarse sand, and ovoid pellets (≤2 mm long) of quartz silt occur in hemipelagic marine mudstone of the mid-Ediacaran Bunyeroo Formation exposed in the Adelaide Geosyncline (Adelaide Rift Complex), and ovoid pellets of quartz silt in cores of the correlative marine Dey Dey Mudstone from deep drillholes in the Officer Basin, South Australia. This detritus is interpreted respectively as dropstones, dumps, and frozen aggregates dispersed by sea ice possibly of seasonal origin, and till pellets transported by glacial ice. The ice-rafted material in the Bunyeroo Formation only has been found <10 m stratigraphically below and above a horizon of dacitic ejecta related to the 90 km diameter Acraman impact structure in the Mesoproterozoic Gawler Range Volcanics 300 km to the west. Furthermore, till pellets have been identified 4.4 to 68 m below distal Acraman ejecta in the Dey Dey Mudstone >500 km northwest of the impact site. The Acraman impact took place at a low paleolatitude (～12.5°) and would have adversely affected the global environment. The stratigraphic observations imply, however, that the impact occurred during, but did not trigger, a cold interval marked by sea ice and glacial ice, although the temporal relationship with Ediacaran glaciations elsewhere in Australia and on other continents is unclear. Release from the combined environmental stresses of a frigid, glacial climate near sea-level and a major impact in low latitudes may have been a factor influencing subsequent Ediacaran biotic evolution.     

Matt Wilson structure: record of an impact event of possible Early Mesoproterozoic age,Northern Territory

The Matt Wilson structure is a circular 5.5 km-diameter structure in Early Mesoproterozoic or Neoproterozoic rocks of the Victoria Basin, Northern Territory. It lies in regionally horizontal to gently dipping Wondoan Hill and Stubb Formations (Tijunna Group) and Jasper Gorge Sandstone (Auvergne Group). An outer circumferential syncline with dips of 5?–?40° in the limbs surrounds an intermediate zone with faulted sandstone displaying horizontal to low dips, and a central steeply dipping zone about 1.5 km across. Several thrust faults in the outer syncline appear to indicate outward-directed forces. The central zone, marked by steeply dipping to overturned Tijunna Group and possibly Bullita Group sandstone and mudstone, indicates uplift of at least 300 m. The rocks are intensely fractured with some brecciation, and contain numerous planar to subtly undulating surfaces displaying striae which resemble shatter cleavage. Thin-sections of sandstone from the central area show zones of intense microbrecciation and irregular and planar fractures in quartz, but no melt-rocks have been identified. The planar fractures occur in multiple intersecting parallel sets typical of relatively low-level (5?–?10 GPa) shock-pressure effects. Alternative mechanisms, i.e. igneous intrusion, carbonate collapse, diapirism and regional deformation processes, have been discounted. The circular nature, central uplift, faulting, shatter features and planar fractures are all consistent with an impact origin. The Matt Wilson structure is most likely a deeply eroded impact structure in which the more highly shocked rocks of the original crater floor have been removed by erosion. Estimates of the age of the Auvergne and Tijunna Groups range from Early Mesoproterozoic (which we favour) to Late Neoproterozoic. Early Cambrian Antrim Plateau Volcanics near the impact structure show no signs of impact effects, allowing the age of impact to be constrained between Early Mesoproterozoic and Early Cambrian. The presence of widespread soft-sediment deformation features, apparently confined to a single horizon in the Saddle Creek Formation some 700?–?1000 m stratigraphically higher in the Auvergne Group than the rocks at the impact site, and apparently increasing in thickness towards the Matt Wilson structure, lead us to speculate that this probable event horizon is related to the impact event: if correct the impact occurred during deposition of the Saddle Creek Formation.     

冀东孤山子航磁异常特征及其找矿前景

[摘 要]冀东孤山子航磁异常为冀东三大航磁异常之一,且位于冀东石人沟-板城铁矿集中区。通过对本区地质构造特征、岩矿石物性及重磁异常特征等进行综合研究,认为孤山子航磁异常并非完全由孤山子基性-超基性岩杂岩体和已控制的浅地表超贫磁铁矿体所引起,进而采用2. 5D 拟合技术进行了定量拟合计算和资源量估算,认为孤山子航磁异常具有较好的找铁矿前景。同时,通过对孤山子航磁异常的推断解释,总结了减少航磁异常解释多解性的思路与做法。     

Tectonic control on the morphology of the subcircular structure of El Mdaouar (Saharan Atlas,Algeria): insights from geological and remote sensing data

El Mdaouar subcircular structure is located in the eastern Saharan Atlas (Algeria) at 35° 05′ N and 4° 19′ 30″ E, about 20 km southwest of the town of Bou Saada. Its diameter is about 3.2 km and shows a raised rim that stands high above the surrounding terrain. We have carried out a combining remote sensing (Landsat 8 OLI image and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data) and geological field investigation of the El Mdaouar subcircular structure in order to study its morphology and to determine its origin. In the absence of evidence of magmatism, diapirism, and impact on this structure, a tectonic deformation is the most likely in the origin of this subcircular feature. The counterclockwise rotational motion of the layers explains the morphology of the structure. This rotational motion is probably the result of a combination of the movement of the faults which pass through the structure, in particular two NE-SW strike-slip faults and a NW-SE fault, which marks the eastern limit of the El Mdaouar structure. The NE-SW trending of the structure indicates a NW-SE compressional event, which corresponds to that of the Atlasic phase. This event occurred in the Late Eocene (35 Ma), which is the best estimation of the age of the El Mdaouar structure.     

Mount Woolnough: the submerged volcano,SE of Sydney,NSW

Part of a larger investigation of the sea bed off Sydney was a study of the extinct submarine volcano Mount Woolnough. It is located approximately 41 km east of Kurnell, NSW, and protrudes 175 m above the sediment cover at depths of approximately ?550 to ?375 m. Volcanic rock, approximately 2.2 km in diameter, is exposed above the sediment sea floor and is much smaller than its magnetic expression (approximately 13 km in diameter). Samples dredged from Mount Woolnough were conglomerates with phosphatic nodules and volcanic fragments set in a fine foraminiferal sediment matrix. Zircons within the mafic fragments yielded a minimum age of 261 Ma.     

Application of the non-seismic geophysical method in the deep geological structure study of Benxi-Huanren area

Based upon 1:200,000 regional gravity and aeromagnetic data, gravity and aeromagnetic slice maps were obtained through fast Fourier transformation (FFT) upward continuation. A comparison between gravity and aeromagnetic slice maps at different depths combined with regional geological data and Magneto-Telluric sounding reveals the deep geological structure of Benxi-Huanren area and provides important information for study of the deep geological evolution process of Benxi-Huanren area. Yanshanian granitic pluton is widely distributed in this area and tends to be continuous toward depth. Significant metallogenic areas, such as Dataigou and Nanfen areas, lie above the buried granitic pluton. The Paleoproterozoic strata distribution area and the Archean strata distribution area have similar characteristics in terms of gravity anomaly. The iron-bearing formation in Anshan area is Archean supracrustal rock which was not engulfed by Archean granite. The thickness of Liaoji paleo-rift can be up to 10 km, whose lower part was intruded by Yanshanian granites. The basement of the Liaoji rift was remelted during granite intrusion in Yanshanian period.     

Geophysical characterisation of a blind I-type pluton emplaced within the Bundarra Suite S-type granites of the New England Batholith

Geophysical data are presented that characterise a blind pluton, the Mountain Home Pluton (MHP), which intrudes the southern portion of the Bundarra Suite (BS), 30 km northeast of Bendemeer, New South Wales. A positive magnetic anomaly within the non-magnetic granites of the BS (Banalasta and Pringles Monzogranites) was previously identified as a sub-surface intrusion. Interpretation of new gravity data and analysis of aeromagnetic data are used to infer the depth, size, density, magnetic susceptibility and likely petrology of the pluton. The best-fit model indicates that the MHP is very similar to the Looanga Monzogranite, a felsic member of the Moonbi Suite of the New England Batholith (NEB) that intrudes the BS 5–7 km southeast of the MHP. The top of the MHP is inferred to lie about 1 km beneath the surface and the pluton extends to a depth of at least 6 km. Our model furthermore suggests that the southwestern margin of the MHP is subvertical, whereas a shallower dip (<45°) towards the north is proposed for the northeastern surface of the pluton. A north-trending dyke swarm, identified on the basis of linear positive magnetic anomalies, may be related to the MHP. This swarm of more than 20 relatively magnetic dykes extends out to about 10 km north from the pluton. Magnetic modelling of the dykes indicates that susceptibility values of the dykes are probably very similar to the range of the MHP, and also suggests the width of individual dykes (also not known to be exposed at the surface) to be at most a few tens of metres. A petrographic examination of the intruded BS granites at the surface suggests that metamorphic zoning as seen in mineralogical characteristics may be related to the underlying pluton.     

New insights into the size and timing of the Lawn Hill impact structure: relationship to the Century Zn – Pb deposit

The Lawn Hill circular structure in northwest Queensland contains unambiguous evidence of an extraterrestrial impact, including planar deformation features in quartz, impact diamonds, widespread shatter cone formation and impact melt breccia in the Mesoproterozoic basement. The question of its relevance to ore genesis is investigated because the world-class Century Zn – Pb deposit is situated at the conjunction of the 100+ km Termite Range Fault and the previously defined margin of the impact structure. The impact structure is considered to be a 19.5 km wide feature, this constrained in part by the outer margin of an annulus of brecciated and highly contorted limestone. New evidence is presented indicating impact into this Cambrian limestone, including: (i) ‘dykes’ of brecciated Cambrian limestone extending hundreds of metres into the Mesoproterozoic basement; (ii) highly contorted bedding in the limestone annulus compared with essentially undeformed limestone away from the impact site; as well as (iii) a 1 Mt megaclast of Mesoproterozoic Century-like ore suspended in the limestone. Through aerial photograph analysis, large-scale convoluted flow structures within the limestone are identified, and these are interpreted to indicate that parts of the Cambrian sequence may have been soft or only semi-consolidated at the time of impact. This highly contorted limestone bedding is suggested to represent slump-filling of an annular trough in response to impact-induced partial liquefaction of a sediment veneer. The age of impact is therefore considered to be concurrent with limestone formation during the Ordian to early Templetonian, at 520 – 510 Ma. Formation of the Century deposit is found to be unrelated to impact-generated hydrothermal activity, although some minor hydrothermal remobilisation of metals occurred. However, there was macro-scale remobilisation of gigantic ore fragments driven by impact-induced lateral and vertical injection of limestone into the Proterozoic sediments. The limestone-filled annular trough surrounds a 7.8 km diameter central uplift, consistent with formation of a complex crater morphology.     

The marine Lockne impact structure, Jämtland, Sweden: a review

The Lockne impact structure in Jämtland (63°00'20"N, 14°49'30"E) formed in the Middle Ordovician at approximately 455 Ma. The structure is a concentric crater with a total diameter of 13.5 km. The impact took place in a marine environment. Seawater played an important role in the cratering process and in crater morphology and the amount of melt remaining in the structure. Seawater rushed back into the crater in a resurge, eroding and redepositing the ejecta among the resurge deposit. Seawater furthermore facilitated the hydrothermal system, which was driven by the residual heat in the structure. The Lockne structure hosts shocked quartz and an iridium anomaly. The rim wall round the crater collapsed in the modification stage of the crater and was annihilated by the resurge. The fractured basement and the impact breccia were initially rich in open cavities. These became partly filled with dominantly calcite. The filling contributed to a low-density contrast, generating a negative gravity anomaly of 22 gu. The gravity model indicates a central uplift and a NW-directed tilt of the structure. This tilt is also seen in the magnetic models. The apparent absence of any impact melt is probably real and related to the environment of impact.     

Teleseismic finite-fault inversion of two <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis><Subscript>w</Subscript> = 6.4 earthquakes along the East Anatolian Fault Zone in Turkey: the 1998 Adana and 2003 Bingöl earthquakes

The East Anatolian Fault Zone is a continental transform fault accommodating westward motion of the Anatolian fault. This study aims to investigate the source properties of two moderately large and damaging earthquakes which occurred along the transform fault in the last two decades using the teleseismic broadband P and SH body waveforms. The first earthquake, the 27 June 1998 Adana earthquake, occurred beneath the Adana basin, located close to the eastern extreme of Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. The faulting associated with the 1998 Adana earthquake is unilateral to the NE and confined to depths below 15 km with a length of 30 km along the strike (53°) and a dipping of 81° SE. The fixed-rake models fit the data less well than the variable-rake model. The main slip area centered at depth of about 27 km and to the NE of the hypocenter, covering a circular area of 10 km in diameter with a peak slip of about 60 cm. The slip model yields a seismic moment of 3.5?×?10¹⁸ N-m (M_w???6.4). The second earthquake, the 1 May 2003 Bingöl earthquake, occurred along a dextral conjugate fault of the East Anatolian Fault Zone. The preferred slip model with a seismic moment of 4.1?×?10¹⁸ N-m (M_w???6.4) suggests that the rupture was unilateral toward SE and was controlled by a failure of large asperity roughly circular in shape and centered at a depth of 5 km with peak displacement of about 55 cm. Our results suggest that the 1998 Adana earthquake did not occur on the mapped Göksun Yakap?nar Fault Zone but rather on a SE dipping unmapped fault that may be a split fault of it and buried under the thick (about 6 km) deposits of the Adana basin. For the 2003 Bingöl earthquake, the final slip model requires a rupture plane having 15° different strike than the most possible mapped fault.     

Volcanic evolution of a long-lived Ordovician island-arc province in the Parkes region of the Lachlan Fold Belt,southeastern Australia

The Ordovician mafic volcanic rocks in the Parkes region of New South Wales occur as three distinct packages of volcaniclastic and coherent volcanic rocks and minor limestone that formed part of an oceanic island arc succession. The oldest package is the Early Ordovician Nelungaloo Volcanics and overlying Yarrimbah Formation. These formations consist of volcanic siltstone, sandstone, polymictic breccia, conglomerate facies interpreted as moderately deep-water turbidites and coarser grained debris-flow deposits emplaced in the medial to distal part of a subaqueous volcaniclastic apron flanking an active volcanic centre(s). Broadly conformable massive to brecciated andesites in the apron deposits are interpreted as synsedimentary sills and/or lava flows. A hiatus in volcanism occurred between the Bendigonian and early Darriwilian (ca 476 – 466 Ma). Deposition of the second package, which produced the Middle to Late Ordovician Goonumbla Volcanics, Billabong Creek Limestone and Gunningbland Formation, commenced with shallow-water limestones and minor volcaniclastic rocks. During an approximately 15 million years period, a thick sequence of bedded volcanic sandstone, limestone and minor siltstone and volcanic breccia were deposited in very shallow to moderate water depths. The top of this package is marked by thick volcanic conglomerate and sandstone mass-flow deposits and approximately coeval basaltic andesite lavas and sills sourced from a nearby volcano. The upper age limit of this package is constrained as approximately 450 Ma by Ea3/4 fossils and monzodiorite that intrudes the Goonumbla Volcanics. The lower limit of the third package, which constitutes the Wombin Volcanics, is poorly constrained and the duration of the hiatus that separates the Goonumbla and Wombin Volcanics is unknown but may be as long as 10 million years. The Wombin Volcanics record development of a thick, proximal volcaniclastic apron flanking a compositionally more evolved volcanic edifice in the immediate Parkes area. Thick crystal-rich turbiditic sandstones of mafic provenance are intercalated with polymictic volcanic breccias and megablock breccias that are interpreted as proximal subaqueous debris-flow and debris-avalanche deposits, respectively. The sequence also includes numerous trachyandesite bodies, many of which were emplaced within the volcaniclastic apron as synsedimentary sills. No evidence was found at Parkes to support the existence of a previously proposed 22 km diameter collapse caldera and the source volcanoes for the Ordovician are envisaged as complex stratovolcanoes.     

Geophysical evidence for a large impact structure on the Falkland (Malvinas) Plateau

A large, roughly circular structural basin is recognised on the Falkland (Malvinas) Plateau to the NW of West Falkland (Gran Malvina) Island (S 51°00′, W 62°00′). The basin, seen in seismic‐reflection profiles and evident as a large negative gravity anomaly, has a diameter of ~250 km. The age of the basin is estimated to be Late Palaeozoic. It is completely buried by younger sediments and has no topographic expression on the sea floor. We propose that the basin and geophysical anomalies, especially the combination of a large circular negative gravity anomaly with a rim of positive anomalies, and a marked circular series of positive magnetic anomalies in the same area, may be best explained by the presence of a large buried impact structure.     

Amelia Creek: a Proterozoic impact structure in the Davenport Ranges,Northern Territory

The Amelia Creek impact structure is located in Australia's Northern Territory in folded Palaeoproterozoic strata of the Davenport Ranges (20°51'S, 134°53′E). An impact origin is confirmed by presence of unequivocal shatter cones with apices that point upwards, and by planar microstructures in quartz grains from target sandstones of the Hatches Creek Group. Aeromagnetic, advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer (ASTER), and X-band synthetic aperture radar (X-SAR) images show an area of anomalous deformation in which smooth regional trends are disrupted by arcuate features at a 10 km radius to the north and south of the shock-metamorphosed rocks. However, no arcuate forms are apparent to the east and west of these shocked rocks, and instead, large south-southwest-trending faults are present about 6 km away on both sides. Despite pervasive shatter coning, typical of the central region of complex impact structures, no structural uplift is apparent, but instead the shocked rocks lie at the southern toe of a north-northeast-trending syncline. These shatter cones overprint and post-date the Palaeoproterozoic regional deformation, and thus, the impact structure has not been refolded and its abnormal form is likely due to pre-existing structure in the target rocks and/or an oblique impact. Small pockets of undeformed Late Neoproterozoic and Middle Cambrian strata are exposed in palaeovalleys in the central region of the structure, constraining the time of the impact to the Proterozoic.     

The Diamantina River ring feature,Winton region,western Queensland

The Diamantina ～120 km-diameter ring feature, a unique feature in western Queensland, is manifested by a near-360° circular drainage pattern, radial creeks and a coincident radiometric K–Th–U pattern. The structure has been studied in the context of an investigation of the nature and origin of Australian circular structures. Geophysical signatures, including total magnetic intensity (TMI), gravity and seismic reflection transect data from the region of the ring feature are examined to help test the origin of the structure. A western subdued TMI arc with a ～110 km diameter is offset by ～30 km eastward from the western rim of the drainage ring. Bouguer anomaly data show a gravity low near the centre of the ring structure, but no outer circular pattern. Two recent seismic transects indicate a moderately reflective to weakly reflective crust below flat lying strata of the Jurassic–Cretaceous Eromanga and Permian–Triassic Galilee basins, and above a usually well-defined ～39–45 km-deep Moho. An approximately ～100 km-wide seismically non-reflective to weakly reflective zone overlapping the Diamantina ring feature separates crust of different seismic reflection character to either side. The nature of the seismic non-reflective crust is unknown. A potential interpretation of the ring structure in terms of asteroid impact cannot be confirmed or rejected given the present state of knowledge, owing to (1) the near-30 km depth of the seismically non-reflective zone along the transects; and (2) the shift of the TMI part ring zone relative to the geomorphic expression of the Diamantina ring feature. A test of the nature and origin of the Diamantina ring feature requires a cored drill hole near the centre of the TMI ring structure.     

Reconstructing the Wolfe Creek meteorite impact: deep structure of the crater and effects on target rock

The Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater is an impact structure 880 m in diameter, located in the Tanami Desert near Halls Creek, Western Australia. The crater formed?<?300 000 years ago, and is the second largest crater from which fragments of the impacting meteorite (a medium octahedrite) have been recovered. We present the results of new ground-based geophysical (magnetics and gravity) surveys conducted over the structure in July?–?August 2003. The results highlight the simple structure of the crater under the infilling sediments, and forward modelling is consistent with the true crater floor being 120 m beneath the present surface. The variations in the dip of the foliations around the crater rim confirm that the meteorite approached from the east-northeast, as is also deduced from the ejecta distribution. Crater scaling arguments suggest a projectile diameter of?>?12.0 m, a crater formation time of 3.34 s, and an energy of impact of ～0.235 Mt of TNT. We also use the distribution of shocked quartz in the target rock (Devonian sandstones) to reconstruct the shock loading conditions of the impact. The estimated maximum pressures at the crater rim were between 5.59 and 5.81 GPa. We also use a Simplified Arbitrary Langrangian–Eulerian hydrocode (SALE 2) to simulate the propagation of shock waves through a material described by a Tillotson equation of state. Using the deformational and PT constraints of the Wolfe Creek crater, we estimate the maximum pressures, and the shock-wave attenuation, of this medium-sized impact.     

Impact cratering and distal ejecta: the Australian record

The Australian continent has one of the best-preserved impact-cratering records on Earth, closely rivalling that of North America and parts of northern Europe, and the rate of new discoveries remains high. In this review 26 impact sites are described, including five small meteorite craters or crater fields associated with actual meteorite fragments (Boxhole, Dalgaranga, Henbury, Veevers, Wolfe Creek) and 21 variably eroded or buried impact structures (Acraman, Amelia Creek, Connolly Basin, Foelsche, Glikson, Goat Paddock, Gosses Bluff, Goyder, Kelly West, Lawn Hill, Liverpool, Matt Wilson, Mt Toondina, Piccaninny, Shoemaker, Spider, Strangways, Tookoonooka, Woodleigh, Yallalie, Yarrabubba). In addition a number of possible impact structures have been proposed and a short list of 22 is detailed herein. The Australian cratering record is anomalously biased towards old structures, and includes the Earth's best record of Proterozoic impact sites. This is likely to be a direct result of aspects of the continent's unique geological evolution. The Australian impact record also includes distal ejecta in the form of two tektite strewn fields (Australasian strewn field, ‘high-soda’ tektites), a single report of 12.1?–?4.6 Ma microtektites, ejecta from the ca 580 Ma Acraman impact structure, and a number of Archaean to Early Palaeoproterozoic impact spherule layers. Possible impact related layers near the Eocene?–?Oligocene and the Permian?–?Triassic boundaries have been described in the literature, but remain unconfirmed. The global K?–?T boundary impact horizon has not been recognised onshore in Australia but is present in nearby deep-sea cores.