Large impact structures with peak rings are common landforms across the solar system, and their formation has implications for both the interior structure and thermal evolution of planetary bodies. Numerical modeling and structural studies have been used to simulate and ground truth peak-ring formative mechanisms, but the shock metamorphic record of minerals within these structures remains to be ascertained. We investigated impact-related microstructures and high-pressure phases in zircon from melt-bearing breccias, impact melt rock, and granitoid basement from the Chicxulub peak ring (Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico), sampled by the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP)/International Continental Drilling Project (IODP-ICDP) Expedition 364 Hole M0077A. Zircon grains exhibit shock features such as reidite, zircon twins, and granular zircon including “former reidite in granular neoblastic” (FRIGN) zircon. These features record an initial high-pressure shock wave (>30 GPa), subsequent relaxation during the passage of the rarefaction wave, and a final heating and annealing stage. Our observed grain-scale deformation history agrees well with the stress fields predicted by the dynamic collapse model, as the central uplift collapsed downward-then-outward to form the peak ring. The occurrence of reidite in a large impact basin on Earth represents the first such discovery, preserved due to its separation from impact melt and rapid cooling by the resurging ocean. The coexistence of reidite and FRIGN zircon within the impact melt–bearing breccias indicates that cooling by seawater was heterogeneous. Our results provide valuable information on when different shock microstructures form and how they are modified according to their position in the impact structure, and this study further improves on the use of shock barometry as a diagnostic tool in understanding the cratering process.
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Research Article|
April 05, 2021
Shock-deformed zircon from the Chicxulub impact crater and implications for cratering process
Jiawei Zhao
;
Jiawei Zhao
1
State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, Planetary Science Institute, School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China
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Long Xiao
;
Long Xiao
1
State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, Planetary Science Institute, School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China2
Chinese Academy of Sciences Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, Hefei, 230026, China
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Zhiyong Xiao
;
Zhiyong Xiao
2
Chinese Academy of Sciences Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, Hefei, 230026, China3
Planetary Environmental and Astrobiological Research Laboratory, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, 519082, China
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Joanna V. Morgan
;
Joanna V. Morgan
4
Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2BP, UK
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Gordon R. Osinski
;
Gordon R. Osinski
5
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada6
Institute for Earth and Space Exploration, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada
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Clive R. Neal
;
Clive R. Neal
7
Department of Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA
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Sean P.S. Gulick
;
Sean P.S. Gulick
8
Institute for Geophysics & Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78758-4445, USA9
Center for Planetary Systems Habitability, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78758-4445, USA
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Ulrich Riller
;
Ulrich Riller
10
Institut für Geologie, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg 20146, Germany
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Philippe Claeys
;
Philippe Claeys
11
Analytical, Environmental and Geo-Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
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Shanrong Zhao
;
Shanrong Zhao
1
State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, Planetary Science Institute, School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China
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Nils C. Prieur
;
Nils C. Prieur
12
Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics, University of Oslo, NO-0315 Oslo, Norway
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Alexander Nemchin
;
Alexander Nemchin
13
Department of Applied Geology, The Institute for Geoscience Research, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia
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Shuoran Yu
;
Shuoran Yu
14
State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau, China
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Geology (2021)
Article history
received:
06 Jun 2020
rev-recd:
14 Aug 2020
accepted:
09 Jan 2021
first online:
05 Apr 2021
Citation
Jiawei Zhao, Long Xiao, Zhiyong Xiao, Joanna V. Morgan, Gordon R. Osinski, Clive R. Neal, Sean P.S. Gulick, Ulrich Riller, Philippe Claeys, Shanrong Zhao, Nils C. Prieur, Alexander Nemchin, Shuoran Yu, IODP 364 Science Party; Shock-deformed zircon from the Chicxulub impact crater and implications for cratering process. Geology 2021; doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G48278.1
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