New links between the Chicxulub impact structure and the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary

Virgil L. Sharpton; G. B. Dalrymple; L.E. Marin; G. Ryder; B.C. Schuraytz; J. Urrutia-Fucugauchi

doi:10.1038/359819a0

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New links between the Chicxulub impact structure and the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary

Virgil L. Sharpton·G. B. Dalrymple·L.E. Marin·G. Ryder·B.C. Schuraytz·J. Urrutia-Fucugauchi

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Abstract

The 200-km-diameter Chicxulub structure 1–3 in northern Yucatan, Mexico has emerged as the prime candidate for the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) boundary impact crater 3–6 . Concentric geophysical anomalies associated with enigmatic occurrences of Upper Cretaceous breccias and andesitic rocks led Penfield and Camargo 1 to suspect that this structure was a buried impact basin. More recently, the discovery of shocked quartz grains in a Chicxulub breccia 3 , and chemical similarities between Chicxulub rocks and K/T tektite-like glasses 3–6 have been advanced as evidence that the Chicxulub structure is a K/T impact site. Here we present evidence from core samples that Chicxulub is indeed a K/T source crater, and can apparently account for all the evidence of impact distributed globally at the K/T boundary without the need for simultaneous multiple impacts or comet showers. Shocked breccia clasts found in the cores are similar to shocked lithic fragments found worldwide in the K/T boundary ejecta layer 7,8 . The Chicxulub melt rocks that we studied contain anomalously high levels of iridium (up to 13.5 parts per 10 9 ), also consistent with the iridium-enriched K/T boundary layer 9 . Our best estimate of the crystallization age of these melt rocks, as determined by 40 Ar/< 39 Ar analyses, is 65.2 ±0.4 (1σ) Myr, in good agreement with the mean plateau age of 64.98 ± 0.05 Myr recently reported 10 . Furthermore, these melt rocks acquired a remanent magnetization indicating that they cooled during an episode of reversed geomagnetic polarity. The only such episode consistent with 40 Ar/< 39 Ar constraints is chron 29R, which includes the K/T boundary.

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Source-reported bounding extent: 20.738289084536788° to 21.635576267830444° latitude; -90.45825166615258° to -87.50431024889842° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

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Virgil L. Sharpton, G. B. Dalrymple, L.E. Marin, G. Ryder, B.C. Schuraytz, J. Urrutia-Fucugauchi. 1992. New links between the Chicxulub impact structure and the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary. https://doi.org/10.1038/359819a0

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