Statistics – Methodology
Scientific paper
Dec 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufmpp13c1476b&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #PP13C-1476
Statistics
Methodology
4901 Abrupt/Rapid Climate Change (1605), 5416 Glaciation, 5420 Impact Phenomena, Cratering (6022, 8136), 6022 Impact Phenomena (5420, 8136), 6240 Meteorites And Tektites (1028, 3662)
Scientific paper
We present the first evidence from Cretaceous-Tertiary (K/T) boundary clay and rock for shocked hexagonal nanodiamonds (lonsdaleite), these being found in concentrations greater than 50 ppm at Needles Point, New Zealand, and Caravaca, Spain. This is also the first evidence for K/T diamonds of any kind outside of North America. No diamonds were detected immediately above or below the impact layer. Cubic diamonds have been reported earlier from North American K/T sediments by Carlisle and Braman (1991; 45 ppm) and Hough et al. (1997; 18 ppm), but lonsdaleite was not detected. Carlisle and Braman suggested that the cubic diamonds arrived already formed within the impactor, but Hough argued that they were shock-produced by the impact with Earth. Hence, it is not yet clear that K/T cubic diamonds were formed through shock. Lonsdaleite does not co-occur with terrestrial diamonds but is found with cubic diamonds in ET impact craters (e.g., Popigai, Sudbury). Both also have been reported in the impact layer of the proposed Younger Dryas impact event at 12.9 ka. Lonsdaleite is formed by shocking carbonaceous material, e. g., graphite, under extreme conditions of pressure and temperature (more than 15 GPa at more than 1000° C), thus making this mineral an excellent impact-shock indicator (DeCarli, 2002). Although lonsdaleite is also contained in meteorites, such as ureilites, there appears to be a consensus of opinion that crater-related lonsdaleite formed during ET impact. K/T sediment samples were acquired from the boundary layer, as well as above and below. To extract the diamonds from the sediments, we utilized the protocol from Amari (1994) and Huss and Lewis (1995), but modified their methodology after determining that phosphoric and perchloric acids oxidize metastable lonsdaleite. We extracted the diamonds successfully after eliminating those acids, which may explain why lonsdaleite was not apparent in extractions by others. The extracted lonsdaleite was analyzed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and by selected area diffraction (SAED), which displayed characteristic reflections corresponding to lattice planar spacings of 2.18, 1.26, 1.09, and 0.82 A. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) confirmed their carbon composition. With exposure to long-wave ultraviolet (365 nm) radiation, clusters of lonsdaleite crystals exhibited a blue fluorescence that is characteristic of many diamonds. Individual crystals were angular to sub-rounded in shape and ranged in size from 20 to 1000 nm, with a mean size of about 50 nm. This discovery represents (1) the strongest available evidence for K/T diamond formation during the impact; (2) the first discovery of K/T diamonds outside North America; and (3) the first occurrence of any form of K/T diamonds in the Southern Hemisphere, about 12,000 km from the Chicxulub Crater in Mexico.
Bunch Ted E.
Kennett D. J.
Kennett James P.
Mercer Celestine
Que Hee S. S.
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