Geochemical studies of impact breccias and country rocks from the El'gygytgyn impact structure,Russia

The complex impact structure El'gygytgyn (age 3.6 Ma, diameter 18 km) in northeastern Russia was formed in ~88 Ma old volcanic target rocks of the Ochotsk‐Chukotsky Volcanic Belt (OCVB). In 2009, El'gygytgyn was the target of a drilling project of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP), and in summer 2011 it was investigated further by a Russian–German expedition. Drill core material and surface samples, including volcanic target rocks and impactites, have been investigated by various geochemical techniques in order to improve the record of trace element characteristics for these lithologies and to attempt to detect and constrain a possible meteoritic component. The bedrock units of the ICDP drill core reflect the felsic volcanics that are predominant in the crater vicinity. The overlying suevites comprise a mixture of all currently known target lithologies, dominated by felsic rocks but lacking a discernable meteoritic component based on platinum group element abundances. The reworked suevite, directly overlain by lake sediments, is not only comparatively enriched in shocked minerals and impact glass spherules, but also contains the highest concentrations of Os, Ir, Ru, and Rh compared to other El'gygytgyn impactites. This is—to a lesser extent—the result of admixture of a mafic component, but more likely the signature of a chondritic meteoritic component. However, the highly siderophile element contribution from target material akin to the mafic blocks of the ICDP drill core to the impactites remains poorly constrained.     

Petrography and geochemistry of the impact to postimpact transition layer at the El'gygytgyn impact structure in Chukotka,Arctic Russia

The 3.6 Ma El'gygytgyn impact structure, located in northeast Chukotka in Arctic Russia, was largely formed in acidic volcanic rocks. The 18 km diameter circular depression is today filled with Lake El'gygytgyn (diameter of 12 km) that contains a continuous record of lacustrine sediments of the Arctic from the past 3.6 Myr. In 2009, El'gygytgyn became the focus of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) in which a total of 642.4 m of drill core was recovered. Lithostratigraphically, the drill cores comprise lacustrine sediment sequences, impact breccias, and deformed target rocks. The impactite core was recovered from 316.08 to 517.30 meters below lake floor (mblf). Because of the rare, outstanding recovery, the transition zone, ranging from 311.47 to 317.38 m, between the postimpact lacustrine sediments and the impactite sequences, was studied petrographically and geochemically. The transition layer comprises a mixture of about 6 m of loose sedimentary and volcanic material containing isolated clasts of minerals and melt. Shock metamorphic effects, such as planar fractures (PFs) and planar deformation features (PDFs), were observed in a few quartz grains. The discoveries of silica diaplectic glass hosting coesite, kinked micas and amphibole, lechatelierite, numerous impact melt shards and clasts, and spherules are associated with the impact event. The occurrence of spherules, impact melt clasts, silica diaplectic glass, and lechatelierite, about 1 m below the onset of the transition, marks the beginning of the more coherent impact ejecta layer. The results of siderophile interelement ratios of the transition layer spherules give indications of the relative contribution of the meteoritical component.     

Cathodoluminescence as a tool to discriminate impact melt,shocked and unshocked volcanics: A case study of samples from the El'gygytgyn impact structure

El'gygytgyn (Chukotka, Arctic Russia) is a well‐preserved impact structure, mostly excavated in siliceous volcanic rocks. For this reason, the El'gygytgyn structure has been investigated in recent years and drilled in 2009 in the framework of an ICDP (International Continental Scientific Drilling Program) project. The target rocks mostly consist of rhyodacitic ignimbrites and tuffs, which make it difficult to distinguish impact melt clasts from fragments of unshocked target rock within the impact breccia. Several chemical and petrologic attempts, other than dating individual clasts, have been considered to distinguish impact melt from unshocked volcanic rock of the targets, but none has proven reliable. Here, we propose to use cathodoluminescence (imaging and spectrometry), whose intensity is inversely correlated with the degree of shock metamorphism experienced by the investigated lithology, to aid in such a distinction. Specifically, impact melt rocks display low cathodoluminescence intensity, whereas unshocked volcanic rocks from the area typically show high luminescence. This high luminescence decreases with the degree of shock experienced by the individual clasts in the impact breccia, down to almost undetectable when the groundmass is completely molten. This might apply only to El'gygytgyn, because the luminescence in volcanic rocks might be due to devitrification and recrystallization processes of the relatively old (Cretaceous) target rock with respect to the young impactites (3.58 Ma). The alteration that affects most samples from the drill core does not have a significant effect on the cathodoluminescence response. In conclusion, cathodoluminescence imaging and spectra, supported by Raman spectroscopy, potentially provide a useful tool for in situ characterization of siliceous impactites formed in volcanic target.     

Argon‐40/argon‐39 age of the El'gygytgyn impact event,Chukotka, Russia

Abstract— Lake El'gygytgyn, Chukotka, Russia, lies in a ～18 km crater of presumably impact origin. The crater is sited in Cretaceous volcanic rocks of the Okhotsk‐Chukotka volcanic belt. Laser ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating of impact‐melted volcanic rocks from the rim of Lake El'gygytgyn yields a 10‐sample weighted plateau age of 3.58 ± 0.04 Ma. The Ar step‐heating method was critical in this study in identifying inherited Ar in the samples due to incomplete degassing of the Cretaceous volcanic rocks during impact melting. This age is consistent with, but more precise than, previous K‐Ar and fission‐track ages and indicates an “instantaneous” formation of the crater. This tight age control, in conjunction with the presence of impactites, shocked quartz, and other features, is consistent with an impact origin for the structure and seems to discount internal (volcanogenic) origin models.     

Strontium and neodymium isotope systematics of target rocks and impactites from the El'gygytgyn impact structure: Linking impactites and target rocks

The 3.6 Ma El'gygytgyn structure, located in northeastern Russia on the Chukotka Peninsula, is an 18 km diameter complex impact structure. The bedrock is formed by mostly high‐silica volcanic rocks of the ~87 Ma old Okhotsk‐Chukotka Volcanic Belt (OCVB). Volcanic target rocks and impact glasses collected on the surface, as well as drill core samples of bedrock and impact breccias have been investigated by thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) to obtain new insights into the relationships between these lithologies in terms of Nd and Sr isotope systematics. Major and trace element data for impact glasses are added to compare with the composition of target rocks and drill core samples. Sr isotope data are useful tracers of alteration processes and Nd isotopes reveal characteristics of the magmatic sources of the target rocks, impact breccias, and impact glasses. There are three types of target rocks mapped on the surface: mafic volcanics, dacitic tuff and lava of the Koekvun’ Formation, and dacitic to rhyolitic ignimbrite of the Pykarvaam Formation. The latter represents the main contributor to the impact rocks. The drill core is divided into a suevite and a bedrock section by the Sr isotope data, for which different postimpact alteration regimes have been detected. Impact glasses from the present‐day surface did not suffer postimpact hydrothermal alteration and their data indicate a coherent alteration trend in terms of Sr isotopes with the target rocks from the surface. Surprisingly, the target rocks do not show isotopic coherence with the Central Chukotka segment of the OCVB or with the Berlozhya magmatic assemblage (BMA), a late Jurassic felsic volcanic suite that crops out in the eastern part of the central Chukotka segment of the OCVB. However, concordance for these rocks exists with the Okhotsk segment of the OCVB. This finding argues for variable source magmas having contributed to the build‐up of the OCVB.     

Characterization and morphological reconstruction of the Terny impact structure,central Ukraine

The Terny impact structure, located in central Ukraine, displays a variety of diagnostic indicators of shock metamorphism, including shatter cones, planar deformation features in quartz, diaplectic glass, selective melting of minerals, and whole rock melting. The structure has been modified by erosion and subsequently buried by recent sediments. Although there are no natural outcrops of the deformed basement rocks within the area, mining exploration has provided surface and subsurface access to the structure, exposing impact melt rocks, shocked parautochthonous target rocks, and allochthonous impact breccias, including impact melt‐bearing breccias similar to suevites observed at the Ries structure. We have collected and studied samples from surface and subsurface exposures to a depth of approximately 750 m below the surface. This analysis indicates the Terny crater is centered on geographic coordinates 48.13° N, 33.52° E. The center location and the distribution of shock pressures constrain the transient crater diameter to be no less than approximately 8.4 km. Using widely accepted morphometric scaling relations, we estimate the pre‐erosional rim diameter of Terny crater to be approximately 16–19 km, making it close in original size to the well‐preserved El'gygytgyn crater in Siberia. Comparison with El'gygytgyn yields useful insights into the original morphology of the Terny crater and indicates that the amount of erosion Terny experienced prior to burial probably does not exceed 320 m.     

Shocked rocks and impact glasses from the El'gygytgyn impact structure,Russia

Abstract— The El'gygytgyn impact structure is about 18 km in diameter and is located in the central part of Chukotka, arctic Russia. The crater was formed in volcanic rock strata of Cretaceous age, which include lava and tuffs of rhyolites, dacites, and andesites. A mid‐Pliocene age of the crater was previously determined by fission track (3.45 ± 0.15 Ma) and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating (3.58 ± 0.04 Ma). The ejecta layer around the crater is completely eroded. Shock‐metamorphosed volcanic rocks, impact melt rocks, and bomb‐shaped impact glasses occur in lacustrine terraces but have been redeposited after the impact event. Clasts of volcanic rocks, which range in composition from rhyolite to dacite, represent all stages of shock metamorphism, including selective melting and formation of homogeneous impact melt. Four stages of shocked volcanic rocks were identified: stage I (≤35 GPa; lava and tuff contain weakly to strongly shocked quartz and feldspar clasts with abundant PFs and PDFs; coesite and stishovite occur as well), stage II (35–45 GPa; quartz and feldspar are converted to diaplectic glass; coesite but no stishovite), stage III (45–55 GPa; partly melted volcanic rocks; common diaplectic quartz glass; feldspar is melted), and stage IV (>55 GPa; melt rocks and glasses). Two main types of impact melt rocks occur in the crater: 1) impact melt rocks and impact melt breccias (containing abundant fragments of shocked volcanic rocks) that were probably derived from (now eroded) impact melt flows on the crater walls, and 2) aerodynamically shaped impact melt glass “bombs” composed of homogeneous glass. The composition of the glasses is almost identical to that of rhyolites from the uppermost part of the target. Cobalt, Ni, and Ir abundances in the impact glasses and melt rocks are not or only slightly enriched compared to the volcanic target rocks; only the Cr abundances show a distinct enrichment, which points toward an achondritic projectile. However, the present data do not allow one to unambiguously identify a meteoritic component in the El'gygytgyn impact melt rocks.     

El'gygytgyn impact crater,Russia: Structure,tectonics, and morphology

Abstract— The 3.6 Myr old El'gygytgyn impact crater is located in central Chukotka, northeastern Russia. The crater is a well‐preserved impact structure with an inner basin about 15 km in diameter, surrounded by an uplifted rim about 18 km in diameter. The flat floor of the crater is in part occupied by Lake El'gygytgyn, 12 km in diameter, and surrounding terraces. The average profile of the rim is asymmetric, with a steep inner wall and a gentle outer flank. The rim height is about 180 m above the lake level and 140 m above the surrounding area. An outer ring feature, on average 14 m high, occurs at about 1.75 crater radii from the center of the structure. El'gygytgyn crater is surrounded by a complex network of faults. The density of the faults decreases from the bottom of the rim to the rim crest and outside the crater to a distance of about 2.7 crater radii. Lake El'gygytgyn is surrounded by a number of lacustrine terraces. Only minor remnants are preserved of the highest terraces, 80 and 60 m above the present‐day lake level. The widest of the terraces is 40 m above the current lake level and surrounds the lake on the west and northwest sides. The only outlet of the lake is the Enmivaam River, which cuts through the crater rim in the southeast. In terms of structure, El'gygytgyn is well preserved and displays some interesting, but not well understood, features (e.g., an outer ring), similar to those observed at a few other impact structures.     

The geology of the Målingen structure: A probable doublet to the Lockne marine‐target impact crater,central Sweden

The Målingen structure is an approximately 700 m wide, rimmed, sediment‐filled, circular depression in Precambrian crystalline basement approximately 16.2 km from the concentric, marine‐target Lockne crater (inner, basement crater diameter approximately 7.5 km, total diameter in sedimentary strata approximately 13.5 km). We present here results from geologic mapping, a 148.8 m deep core drilling from the center of the structure, detailed biostratigraphic dating of the structure's formation and its age correlation with Lockne, chemostratigraphy of the sedimentary infill, and indication for shock metamorphism in quartz from breccias below the crater infill. The drill core reveals, from bottom to the top, approximately 33 m of basement rocks with increased fracturing upward, approximately 10 m of polymict crystalline breccia with shock features, approximately 97 m of slumped Cambrian mudstone, approximately 4.7 m of a normally graded, polymict sedimentary breccia that in its uppermost part grades into sandstone and siltstone (cf. resurge deposits), and approximately 1.6 m of secular sediments. The combined data set shows that the Målingen structure formed in conjunction with the Lockne crater in the same marine setting. The shape and depth of the basement crater and the cored sequence of crystalline breccias with shocked quartz, slumped sediments, and resurge deposits support an impact origin. The stratigraphic and geographic relationship with Lockne suggests the Lockne and Målingen craters to be the first described doublet impact structure by a binary asteroid into a marine‐target setting.     

Combining shock barometry with numerical modeling: Insights into complex crater formation—The example of the Siljan impact structure (Sweden)

Siljan, central Sweden, is the largest known impact structure in Europe. It was formed at about 380 Ma, in the late Devonian period. The structure has been heavily eroded to a level originally located underneath the crater floor, and to date, important questions about the original size and morphology of Siljan remain unanswered. Here we present the results of a shock barometry study of quartz‐bearing surface and drill core samples combined with numerical modeling using iSALE. The investigated 13 bedrock granitoid samples show that the recorded shock pressure decreases with increasing depth from 15 to 20 GPa near the (present) surface, to 10–15 GPa at 600 m depth. A best‐fit model that is consistent with observational constraints relating to the present size of the structure, the location of the downfaulted sediments, and the observed surface and vertical shock barometry profiles is presented. The best‐fit model results in a final crater (rim‐to‐rim) diameter of ~65 km. According to our simulations, the original Siljan impact structure would have been a peak‐ring crater. Siljan was formed in a mixed target of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks overlaying crystalline basement. Our modeling suggests that, at the time of impact, the sedimentary sequence was approximately 3 km thick. Since then, there has been around 4 km of erosion of the structure.     

Newly identified “Tunnunik” impact structure,Prince Albert Peninsula,northwestern Victoria Island,Arctic Canada

Regional geological mapping of the glaciated surface of northwestern Victoria Island in the western Canadian Arctic revealed an anomalous structure in otherwise flat‐lying Neoproterozoic and lower Paleozoic carbonate rocks, located south of Richard Collinson Inlet. The feature is roughly circular in plan view, approximately 25 km in diameter, and characterized by quaquaversal dips of approximately 45°, decreasing laterally. The core of the feature also exhibits local vertical dips, low‐angle reverse faults, and drag folds. Although brecciation was not observed, shatter cones are pervasive in all lithologies in the central area, including 723 Ma old dikes that penetrate Neoproterozoic limestones. Their abundance decreases distally, and none was observed in surrounding, horizontally bedded strata. This circular structure is interpreted as a deeply eroded meteorite impact crater of the complex type, and the dipping strata as the remnants of the central uplift. The variation in orientation and shape of shatter cones point to variably oriented stresses with the passage of the shock wave, possibly related to the presence of pore water in the target strata as well as rock type and lithological heterogeneities, especially bed thickness. Timing of impact is poorly constrained. The youngest rocks affected are Late Ordovician (approximately 450 Ma) and the impact structure is mantled by undisturbed postglacial sediments. Regional, hydrothermal dolomitization of the Ordovician limestones, possibly in the Late Devonian (approximately 360 Ma), took place before the impact, and widespread WSW–ENE‐trending normal faults of probable Early Cretaceous age (approximately 130 Ma) apparently cross‐cut the impact structure.     

Geology,petrography, shock petrography,and geochemistry of impactites and target rocks from the Kärdla crater,Estonia

Abstract— The Kärdla crater is a 4 km‐wide impact structure of Late Ordovician age located on Hiiumaa Island, Estonia. The 455 Ma‐old buried crater was formed in shallow seawater in Precambrian crystalline target rocks that were covered with sedimentary rocks. Basement and breccia samples from 13 drill cores were studied mineralogically, petrographically, and geochemically. Geochemical analyses of major and trace elements were performed on 90 samples from allochthonous breccias, sub‐crater and surrounding basement rocks. The breccia units do not include any melt rocks or suevites. The remarkably poorly mixed sedimentary and crystalline rocks were deposited separately within the allochthonous breccia suites of the crater. The most intensely shockmetamorphosed allochthonous granitoid crystalline‐derived breccia layers contain planar deformation features (PDFs) in quartz, indicating shock pressures of 20–35 GPa. An apparent K‐enrichment and Ca‐Na‐depletion of feldspar‐ and hornblende‐bearing rocks in the allochthonous breccia units and sub‐crater basement is interpreted to be the result of early stage alteration in an impact‐induced hydrothermal system. The chemical composition of the breccias shows no definite sign of an extraterrestrial contamination. By modeling of the different breccia units with HMX‐mixing, the indigenous component was determined. From the abundances of the siderophile elements (Cr, Co, Ni, Ir, and Au) in the breccia samples, no unambiguous evidence for the incorporation of a meteoritic component above about 0.1 wt% chondrite‐equivalent was found.     

Insights about the formation of a complex impact structure formed in basalt from numerical modeling: The Vista Alegre structure,southern Brazil

We present the outcomes of simulations of the formation of the Vista Alegre impact structure, Paraná Basin, Brazil. The target comprised a thick sequence of volcanic rocks of predominantly basaltic composition of the Serra Geral Formation that had been deposited on top of sedimentary rocks (sandstones) of the Pirambóia/Botucatu formations. The cratering process was modeled using the iSALE shock physics code. Our best‐fit model suggests that (1) the crater was originally ~10 km in size; (2) it was formed in ~115 s by a stony projectile of 1000 m in diameter, for an assumed impact velocity of 12 km s^?1; (3) target rocks underwent a peak pressure of ~20 GPa, in agreement with previous petrographic investigations of shock deformation. Furthermore, the model points out that the sedimentary strata below the layer of volcanic rocks were raised by ~650 meters at the central part of the crater, which resulted in the current partial exposure of the sandstones at the surface. The outcomes of our modeling suggest that parameters like cohesion and strength of the target rocks, after shock compression, determined the final morphology of the crater, especially the absence of a topographically prominent central peak. Finally, the results of the numerical modeling are roughly in agreement with gravity data over the structure, in particular with respect to the presence of the uplifted sedimentary strata, which are responsible for a low gravity signature at the center of the structure.     

Mid‐sized complex crater formation in mixed crystalline‐sedimentary targets: Insight from modeling and observation

Abstract— Large impact crater formation is an important geologic process that is not fully understood. The current paradigm for impact crater formation is based on models and observations of impacts in homogeneous targets. Real targets are rarely uniform; for example, the majority of Earth's surface is covered by sedimentary rocks and/or a water layer. The ubiquity of layering across solar system bodies makes it important to understand the effect target properties have on the cratering process. To advance understanding of the mechanics of crater collapse, and the effect of variations in target properties on crater formation, the first “Bridging the Gap” workshop recommended that geological observation and numerical modeling focussed on mid‐sized (15–30 km diameter) craters on Earth. These are large enough to be complex; small enough to be mapped, surveyed and modelled at high resolution; and numerous enough for the effects of target properties to be potentially disentangled from the effects of other variables. In this paper, we compare observations and numerical models of three 18–26 km diameter craters formed in different target lithology: Ries, Germany; Haughton, Canada; and El'gygytgyn, Russia. Based on the first‐order assumption that the impact energy was the same in all three impacts we performed numerical simulations of each crater to construct a simple quantitative model for mid‐sized complex crater formation in a subaerial, mixed crystalline‐sedimentary target. We compared our results with interpreted geological profiles of Ries and Haughton, based on detailed new and published geological mapping and published geophysical surveys. Our combined observational and numerical modeling work suggests that the major structural differences between each crater can be explained by the difference in thickness of the pre‐impact sedimentary cover in each case. We conclude that the presence of an inner ring at Ries, and not at Haughton, is because basement rocks that are stronger than the overlying sediments are sufficiently close to the surface that they are uplifted and overturned during excavation and remain as an uplifted ring after modification and post‐impact erosion. For constant impact energy, transient and final crater diameters increase with increasing sediment thickness.     

Geophysical signature of Målingen,the minor crater of the Lockne–Målingen doublet impact structure

Målingen is the 0.7 km wide minor crater associated to the 10 times larger Lockne crater in the unique Lockne–Målingen doublet. The craters formed at 458 Ma by the impact of a binary asteroid related to the well-known 470 Ma Main Belt breakup event responsible for a large number of Ordovician craters and fossil meteorites. The binary asteroid struck a target sequence including ~500 m of sea water, ~80 m of limestone, ~30 m of dark mud, and a peneplainized Precambrian crystalline basement. Although the Lockne crater has been extensively studied by core drillings and geophysics, little is known about the subsurface morphology of Målingen. We performed magnetic susceptibility and remanence, as well as density, measurements combined with gravity, and magnetic field surveys over the crater and its close vicinity as a base for forward magnetic and gravity modeling. The interior of the crater shows a general magnetic low of 90–100 nT broken by a clustered set of high-amplitude, short wavelength anomalies caused by bodies of mafic rock in the target below the crater and as allogenic blocks in the crater infill. The gravity shows a general −1.4 mgal anomaly over the crater caused by low-density breccia infill and fractured crystalline rocks below the crater floor. The modeling also revealed a slightly asymmetrical shape of the crater that together with the irregular ejecta distribution supports an oblique impact from the east, which is consistent with the direction of impact suggested for the Lockne crater.     

Pantasma: Evidence for a Pleistocene circa 14 km diameter impact crater in Nicaragua

The circa 14 km diameter Pantasma circular structure in Oligocene volcanic rocks in Nicaragua is here studied for the first time to understand its origin. Geomorphology, field mapping, and petrographic and geochemical investigations all are consistent with an impact origin for the Pantasma structure. Observations supporting an impact origin include outward‐dipping volcanic flows, the presence of former melt‐bearing polymict breccia, impact glass (with lechatelierite and low H₂O, <300 ppm), and also a possible ejecta layer containing Paleozoic rocks which originated from hundreds of meters below the surface. Diagnostic evidence for impact is provided by detection in impact glass of the former presence of reidite in granular zircon as well as coesite, and extraterrestrial ε⁵⁴Cr value in polymict breccia. Two ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau ages with a combined weighted mean age of 815 ± 11 ka (2 σ; P = 0.17) were obtained on impact glass. This age is consistent with geomorphological data and erosion modeling, which all suggest a rather young crater. Pantasma is only the fourth exposed crater >10 km found in the Americas south of N30 latitude, and provides further evidence that a significant number of impact craters may remain to be discovered in Central and South America.     

Petrography and geochemistry of target rocks and impactites from the Ilyinets Crater,Ukraine

Abstract— The ～400 Ma old Ilyinets impact structure was formed in the Precambrian basement of the Ukrainian Shield and is now mostly covered by Quaternary sediments. Various impact breccias and melts are exposed in its southern section. The crater is a complex structure with a central uplift that is surrounded by an annular deposit of breccias and melt rocks. In the annulus, brecciated basement rocks are overlain by up to 80 m of glass-poor suevitic breccia, which is overlain (and partly intercalated) by glass-rich suevite with a thickness of up to 130 m. Impact-melt rocks occur within and on top of the suevites—in some cases in the form of devitrified bomb-shaped impact-glass fragments. We have studied the petrographic and geochemical characteristics of 31, mostly shocked, target rock samples (granites, gneisses, and one amphibolite) obtained from drill cores within the structure, and impact breccias and melt rock samples from drill cores and surface exposures. Multiple sets of planar deformation features (PDFs) are common in quartz, potassium feldspar, and plagioclase of the shocked target rocks. The breccias comprise more or less devitrified impact melt with shocked clasts. The impact-melt rocks (“bombs”) show abundant vesicles and, in some cases, glass is still present as brownish patches and schlieren. All impact breccias (including the melt rocks) are strongly altered and have significantly elevated K contents and lower Na contents than the target rocks. The alteration could have occurred in an impact-induced hydrothermal system. The bomb-shaped melt rocks have lower Mg and Ca contents than other rock types at the crater. Compared to target rocks, only minor enrichments of siderophile element contents (e.g., Ni, Co, Ir) in impact-melt rocks were found.     

Identification of a meteoritic component using chromium isotopic composition of impact rocks from the Lonar impact structure,India

The existence of mass‐independent chromium isotope variability of nucleosynthetic origin in meteorites and their components provides a means to investigate potential genetic relationship between meteorites and planetary bodies. Moreover, chromium abundances are depleted in most surficial terrestrial rocks relative to chondrites such that Cr isotopes are a powerful tool to detect the contribution of various types of extra‐terrestrial material in terrestrial impactites. This approach can thus be used to constrain the nature of the bolide resulting in breccia and melt rocks in terrestrial impact structures. Here, we report the Cr isotope composition of impact rocks from the ~0.57 Ma Lonar crater (India), which is the best‐preserved impact structure excavated in basaltic target rocks. Results confirm the presence of a chondritic component in several bulk rock samples of up to 3%. The impactor that created the Lonar crater had a composition that was most likely similar to that of carbonaceous chondrites, possibly a CM‐type chondrite.