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Near-field Erosional Features at the Mjølnir Impact Crater: the Role of Marine Sedimentary Target

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Cratering in Marine Environments and on Ice

Part of the book series: Impact Studies ((IMPACTSTUD))

Abstract

Detailed seismic interpretation and structural mapping reveal evidence of near-field erosional features and their outcomes resulting from the Mjølnir impact at ~142 Ma. In particular, in the vicinity of the 40-km-diameter crater three erosive/depositional gullies are identified cutting through the rim wall faults. The gullies have meandering patterns and reach 70 m depth, 5 km width, and 25 km length. Mjølnir lacks a prominent, raised rim wall and exhibits, instead, a moderate crater rim locally tilted by 7–10° towards the crater. The Mjølnir impact into a shallow-water sedimentary basin in the Barents Sea generated a water cavity, which often collapsed, caused resurge water and material to flow back into the crater site. The back-rushing flow gave rise to gullies that are shallower and fewer in number, compared to other craters, swept out the rim wall without leaving considerable erosional scours and brought an extensive, ~50 km3, volume of surrounding sediments mixed with excavated/ejected target material back to the crater. The highly unconsolidated and largely water-saturated sediments at the shallowest target levels had very low strength and great healing capacity resulting in preservation of modulated near-field erosional features. Extensive post-impact burial of the area may have further reduced the impact-related relief at the crater vicinity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1047 Blindern, N-0316, Oslo, Norway

    Filippos Tsikalas & Jan Inge Faleide

Authors
  1. Filippos Tsikalas
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  2. Jan Inge Faleide
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1047, Blindern, N-0316, Oslo, Norway

    Henning Dypvik

  2. Centre for Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences, University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7NR, Kent, UK

    Mark J. Burchell

  3. Department of Geology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Peinlaan 2, B-1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Philippe Claeys

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© 2004 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Tsikalas, F., Faleide, J.I. (2004). Near-field Erosional Features at the Mjølnir Impact Crater: the Role of Marine Sedimentary Target. In: Dypvik, H., Burchell, M.J., Claeys, P. (eds) Cratering in Marine Environments and on Ice. Impact Studies. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-06423-8_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-06423-8_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-07376-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-06423-8

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