Shallow-marine impact origin of the Wetumpka structure (Alabama, USA)

Computer Science

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

16

Scientific paper

The Wetumpka structure, an arcuate, 7.6 km diameter, rimmed feature of the inner Coastal Plain, Alabama, is a Late Cretaceous shallow-marine impact crater. In this paper, we show unequivocal evidence of Wetumpka's impact origin. Within and about this structure, pre-existing Upper Cretaceous stratigraphy was resedimented and(or) deformed, thus creating distinctive intra-structure and extra-structure terrains. These terrains are located, respectively, within Wetumpka's crystalline-rim terrain and adjacent to the structure on the southern side. Core drilling near the structure's geographic center revealed that Wetumpka's basin-filling sequence has two distinctive units, suggestive of a two-stage filling process consisting of (1) fall-back plus resurge followed by (2) a later secondary seawater resurge event. Wetumpka's lower subsurface unit includes polymict impact breccias, which contain quartz grains displaying shock-characteristic multiple sets of planar deformation features. Selected subsurface samples of this breccia also contain elevated Ir, Co, Ni and Cr concentrations indicative of a minor extraterrestrial component.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Shallow-marine impact origin of the Wetumpka structure (Alabama, USA) does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Shallow-marine impact origin of the Wetumpka structure (Alabama, USA), we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Shallow-marine impact origin of the Wetumpka structure (Alabama, USA) will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1046096

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.