Evidence for a meteoritic component in impact melt rock from the Chicxulub structure

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Impact Melts, Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary, Meteorites, Planetary Craters, Abundance, Earth Surface, Rhenium Isotopes, Osmium Isotopes, Breccia

Scientific paper

The Chicxulub structure in Yucatan, Mexico, has recently been recognized as a greater than 200-km diameter multi-ring impact crater of K-T boundary age. Crystalline impact melt rocks and breccias from within the crater, which have compositions similar to those of normal continental crustal rocks and which show shock metamorphic effects, have been studied for trace element and Re-Os isotope compositions. A melt rock sample shows elevated iridium concentrations, an osmium concentration of 25 ppb, and a low Os-187/Os-188 ratio of 0.113, which are incompatible with derivation from the continental crust. Even though the Os-187/Os-188 ratio is slightly lower than the range so far measured in meteorites, a mantle origin seems unlikely for mass balance reasons and because the cratering event is unlikely to have excavated mantle material. The data support the hypothesis of a heterogeneously distributed meteoritic component in the Chicxulub melt rock.

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