Assessing event magnitude and target water depth for marine-target impacts: Ocean resurge deposits in the Chicxulub M0077A drill core compared
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The rim wall of water formed from even a modestly-sized marine impact may be kilometers in height.
Although modeling has shown that this wave swiftly breaks and relatively rapidly loses energy during
outwards travel from the impact site, the portion of the rim wall that collapses inwards may generate
a resurge flow with tremendous transport energy. Here we compare the deposits generated by this
ocean resurge inside one of the largest marine-target craters on Earth, the 200-km wide Chicxulub
crater, Yucatán Peninsula, México, with resurge deposits (breccias) in eight drill cores from five other
marine-target craters in Sweden and the United States. Examination of the wide range of cored locations
within the craters, and target water depths (H) relative to modeled projectile diameters (d) reveal a high
correlation between location, average clast frequency (N ), and d/H from which any of the four variables
can be obtained. The relationship shown here may provide an important tool for diagnosing marine
impact cratering processes where there is limited understanding of crater size and/or paleobathymetry
Although modeling has shown that this wave swiftly breaks and relatively rapidly loses energy during
outwards travel from the impact site, the portion of the rim wall that collapses inwards may generate
a resurge flow with tremendous transport energy. Here we compare the deposits generated by this
ocean resurge inside one of the largest marine-target craters on Earth, the 200-km wide Chicxulub
crater, Yucatán Peninsula, México, with resurge deposits (breccias) in eight drill cores from five other
marine-target craters in Sweden and the United States. Examination of the wide range of cored locations
within the craters, and target water depths (H) relative to modeled projectile diameters (d) reveal a high
correlation between location, average clast frequency (N ), and d/H from which any of the four variables
can be obtained. The relationship shown here may provide an important tool for diagnosing marine
impact cratering processes where there is limited understanding of crater size and/or paleobathymetry
Date Issued
2021-06-15
Date Acceptance
2021-03-27
Citation
Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2021, 564, pp.1-14
ISSN
0012-821X
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Start Page
1
End Page
14
Journal / Book Title
Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Volume
564
Copyright Statement
© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Sponsor
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
Identifier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X21001746?via%3Dihub
Grant Number
NE/P005217/1
Subjects
02 Physical Sciences
04 Earth Sciences
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
116915
Date Publish Online
2021-04-19