Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The oldest impact deposits on earth — First confirmation of an extraterrestrial component

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Impacts and the Early Earth

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences ((LNEARTH,volume 91))

Abstract

The chromium isotopic compositions of samples from an early Archean (3.22 Ga) spherule bed (S4) from the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa, are distinct from that in background rocks and other terrestrial samples. This positively confirms the presence of an extraterrestrial component in this bed and supports hypotheses of an impact origin. The source of the extraterrestrial Cr is most likely to be a carbonaceous chondrite, probably of the CV variety. The estimated extraterrestrial component in this spherule bed is about 15% based on Cr isotopes and platinum group elements. Since this is similar in many regards to the global fallout from the Cretaceous-Tertiary impact, we infer that they have a similar origin. However, the total amount of meteoritic material in the Archean spherule bed is about 30 times greater than in Cretaceous-Tertiary deposits, implying a much larger projectile, possibly 20 km or more in diameter.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Alvarez LW, Alvarez W, Asaro F, Michel HV (1980) Extraterrestrial cause for the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction. Science, 208: 1095–1108

    Google Scholar 

  • Birck J-L, Allègre CJ (1985) Evidence for the presence of 53Mn in the early solar system. Geophys Res Lett 12: 745–748

    Google Scholar 

  • Birck J-L, Allègre CJ (1988) Manganese-chromium isotope systematics and development of the early Solar System. Nature 331: 579–584

    Google Scholar 

  • Byerly GR, Kroner A, Lowe DR, Todt W, Walsh MM (1996) Prolonged magmatism and time constraints for sediment deposition in the early Archean Barberton greenstone belt: evidence from the Upper Onverwacht and Fig Tree groups. Precambrian Research 78: 125–138

    Google Scholar 

  • de Ronde CEJ, Kamo S, Davis DW, de Wit MJ, Spooner ETC (1991) Field, geochemical and U-Pb isotopic constraints from hypabyssal felsic intrusions within the Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa: Implications for tectonics and the timing of gold mineralization. Precambrian Research 49: 261–280

    Google Scholar 

  • Glass BP, Burns CA, Crosbie JR, and DuBois DL (1985) Late Eocene North American microtektites and clinopyroxene bearing spherules. J Geophys Res 90: D175–D196

    Google Scholar 

  • Glass BP, Swincki MB,, Zwart PA (1979) Australasian, Ivory Coast and North American Strewnfields: Size, mass and correlation with geomagnetic reversals and other earth events. Proc Lunar Planet Sci Conf 10: 2535–2545

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanor JS, Duchac KC (1990) Isovolumetric silification of early Archean komatiites: geochemical mass balances and constraints on origin. J Geol 98: 863–877

    Google Scholar 

  • Hildebrand AR, Penfield GT, Kring DA, Pilkington M, Camargo AZ, Jacobsen SB, Boynton WV (1991) Chicxulub crater: A possible Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary impact crater on the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. Geology 19: 867–871

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarosewich E, Nelen JA, Norberg JA (1980) Reference samples for electron microprobe analysis. Geostandards Newsletter 4: 43–47

    Google Scholar 

  • Kallemeyn GW, Wasson JT (1981) The compositional classification of chondrites—I. The carbonaceous chondrite groups. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 45, 1217–1230

    Google Scholar 

  • Koeberl C, Reimold WU (1995) Early Archean spherule beds in the Barberton Mountain Land, South Aftica: no evidence for impact origin. Precambrian Research 74: 1–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Koeberl C, Reimold WU, Boer RH (1993) Geochemistry and mineralogy of early Archean spherule beds, Barberton Mountain Land, South Africa: evidence for origin by impact doubtful. Earth Planet Sci Lett 119: 441–452

    Google Scholar 

  • Kyte FT (1998) A meteorite from the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary. Nature 396: 237–239

    Google Scholar 

  • Kyte FT, Smit J and Wasson JT (1985) Siderophile interelement variations in the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary sediments from Caravaca, Spain. Earth Planet Sci Lett 73: 183–195

    Google Scholar 

  • Kyte FT, Zhou L, Lowe DR (1992) Noble metal abundances in an early Archean impact deposit. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 56: 1365–1372

    Google Scholar 

  • Kyte FT, Bostwick JA, Zhou L (1996) The Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary on the Pacific plate: composition and distribution of impact debris. In: Ryder G, Fastovsky D, Gartner S (eds) The Cretaceous-Tertiary event and other catastrophes in Earth history, Geol Soc Amer Spec Pap 307: 389–401

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowe DR, Byerly GR (1986a) Early Archean silicate spherules of probable impact origin, South Africa and Western Australia. Geology 14: 83–86

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowe DR, Byerly GR (1986b) Archean flow-top alteration zones formed initially in a low-temperature sulphate-rich environment. Nature 324: 245–248

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowe DR, Byerly R, Asaro F, Kyte FT (1989) Geological and geochemical record of 3400-million-year-old terrestrial meteorite impacts. Science 245: 959–962

    Google Scholar 

  • Lugmair GW, Shukolyukov A (1998) Early solar system timescales according to 53Mn-53Cr systematics. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 62: 2863–2886

    Google Scholar 

  • Margolis SV, Claeys P, Kyte FT (1991) Microtektites, microkrystites and spinels from a Late Pliocene asteroid impact in the Southern Ocean. Science 251: 1594–1597

    Google Scholar 

  • Papanastassiou DA (1986) Chromium isotopic anomalies in the Allende meteorite. Astrophys J: L27–L30

    Google Scholar 

  • Podosek FA, Ott U, Brannon JC, Neal CR, Bernatowicz TJ, Swan P, Mahan SE (1997) Thoroughly anomalous chromium in Orgueil. Meteoritics Planet Sci 32: 617–627

    Google Scholar 

  • Robin E, Froget L, Jehanno C, Rocchia R (1993) Evidence for a K/T impact event in the Pacific Ocean. Nature 363: 615–617

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmitz B (1988) Origin of microlayering in worldwide distributed Ir-rich Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary clays. Geology 16: 1068–1072

    Google Scholar 

  • Shearer CK, Papike JJ, Rietmeijer FJM (1998) The planetary sample suite and environments of origin. In: Papike JJ (ed) Planetary Materials, Reviews in Mineralogy, 36: pp 1–1 to 1–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Shukolyukov A, Lugmair GW (1998) Isotopic evidence for the Cretaceous-Tertiary impactor and its type. Science 282: 927–929

    Google Scholar 

  • Shukolyukov A, Lugmair GW (1999) The 53Mn-53Cr isotope systematics of the enstatite chondrites. Lunar Planet Sci 30: #1093

    Google Scholar 

  • Smit J (1999) The global stratigraphy of the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary impact ejecta. Ann Rev Earth Planet Sci 27: 75–113

    Google Scholar 

  • Smit J, Klaver G (1981) Sanidine spherules at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary indicate a large impact event. Nature 292: 47–49

    Google Scholar 

  • Smit J, Kyte FT (1984) Siderophile-rich magnetic spheroids from the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary in Umbria, Italy. Nature 310, 403–405

    Google Scholar 

  • Smit J and Romein AJT. (1985) A sequence of events across the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. Earth Planet Sci Lett 74: 155–170

    Google Scholar 

  • Strong CP, Brooks RR, Wilson SM, Reeves RD, Orth CJ, Mao X-Y, Quintana LR, Anders E, (1987) A new Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary site at Flaxbourne River, New Zealand: biostratigraphy and geochemistry. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 51: 2769–2777

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor SR (1982) Planetary Science: A Lunar Perspective. Lunar and Planetary Inst, Houston, TX, 481 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor SR and McLennan SM (1985) The continental crust: its composition and evolution. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, 312 pp

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Scripps Institute of Oceanography, University of California, 92093-0212, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Alexander Shukolyukov & Günter W. Lugmair

  2. Center for Astrobiology, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, 90095-1567, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Frank T. Kyte

  3. Max-Planck-Institute for Chemistry, Cosmochemistry, PO 3060, 55020, Mainz, Germany

    Günter W. Lugmair

  4. Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, 94305, Stanford, CA, USA

    Donald R. Lowe

  5. Department of Geology and Geophysics, Louisiana State University, 70803, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    Gary R. Byerly

Authors
  1. Alexander Shukolyukov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Frank T. Kyte
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Günter W. Lugmair
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Donald R. Lowe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Gary R. Byerly
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Iain Gilmour Christian Koeberl

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2000 Springer-Verlag

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Shukolyukov, A., Kyte, F.T., Lugmair, G.W., Lowe, D.R., Byerly, G.R. (2000). The oldest impact deposits on earth — First confirmation of an extraterrestrial component. In: Gilmour, I., Koeberl, C. (eds) Impacts and the Early Earth. Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, vol 91. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0027758

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0027758

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-67092-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-46578-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation