Fifteen impactites from various intervals within the Eyreville cores of the Chesapeake Bay impact structure were sampled to measure siderophile element concentrations. The sampled intervals include basement-derived rocks with veins, polymict impact breccias and associated rocks, and crater-fill sediments. The platinum group element (PGE) concentrations obtained are generally low (e.g., iridium concentrations less than 0.1 ng/g) and are fractionated relative to chondrites. There is no clear distinction in concentration between the different impactite units. So far in the Chesapeake Bay material, only the impact melt rocks from the 823-m-deep Cape Charles test hole, drilled over the central uplift of the structure, have generated a bulk chondritic signature of 0.01–0.1 wt% meteoritic contribution based on a mixing model of 187 Os/ 188 Os isotopic ratios and Os concentrations. However, none of the samples studied shows PGE abundances that enable identification of the type of projectile responsible for the formation of the structure. Hence, it is at present not possible to link the Chesapeake Bay impact to the proposed ordinary chondrite falls by projectiles recorded for other late Eocene craters, namely the 100-km-diameter Popigai impact structure in Siberia and 7.5-km-diameter Wanapitei structure in Canada. The absence of a clear projectile signature hinders further discussions on the existence and the nature of the late Eocene shower event (asteroid versus comet).

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