In this study, we extend the knowledge of postimpact alteration processes through an investigation of mineralogy and petrology of 24 samples from the Exmore Formation and sedimentary megablock intervals in the Eyreville borehole within the Chesa-peake Bay impact structure and comparisons to similar studies of cored intervals of the Cape Charles borehole. The bulk mineralogical studies reveal quartz, feldspars (microcline and albite), muscovite, smectite-vermiculite clays, and kaolinite with variable quantities of pyrite, zeolites, calcite, and chlorite. X-ray diffraction analysis of the clay (<2 μm) fraction of samples indicates that the clays are dominated by expandable clays with lesser quantities of illite, kaolinite, glauconite, and mixed-layered clays. The expandable clays include smectite, vermiculite, and smectite-vermiculite intergrade varieties; illite interlayering is minimal (generally, <10% illite layers). Thin section and scanning electron microscope petrography in the Exmore breccia show evidence for extensive authigenic expandable clay in the matrix and dispersed pyrite lepispheres and fine calcite rhombs. Grain alteration includes feldspar dissolution and albitization, glauconite recrystallization, and dissolution and expandable-clay replacement of micas. Taken together, the results indicate that low-temperature alteration (maximum temperatures 60–80 °C) is prevalent in the sedimentary clast–rich intervals in the Eyreville cores, and the maximum effects are observed between 600 and 970 m depth.

In comparison, the Exmore Formation from the Cape Charles borehole, 8 km to the southwest and overlying the central peak of the inner crater, shows more advanced authigenesis with Fe-rich chlorite, common quartz overgrowths, and mixed-layered illite-smectite clay with as much as 20% interlayered illite. A low-temperature hydrothermal mineral assemblage is documented in suevite and crystalline-clast breccia at depths of 725–820 m in the Cape Charles borehole.

The fine-grained clastic target material and contained seawater are argued to have limited initial target melting and initial crater-floor temperatures in the Chesa-peake Bay impact structure to an even greater degree than that of other marine craters targeted in consolidated sedimentary substrates. Subsequent hydrothermal circulation was confined to the central uplift and neighboring fractured zones, whereas alteration in the overlying sedimentary breccias involved conductive heat flow, reaction with hypersaline pore fluids, and minor fluid flow into more porous, permeable sedimentary blocks adjacent to the central uplift.