The Chicxulub impact event at ca. 66 Ma left in its wake the only complex crater on Earth with a preserved peak ring, characterized by a well-developed magnetic anomaly low. To date, little is known about its magnetic properties. The joint Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) and International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) Expedition 364 drill core M0077A revealed that the peak ring consists of uplifted and strongly deformed granitoid basement rocks overlain by a 130-m-thick impact melt and suevite layer. Pre- and postimpact hydrothermal systems affected this basement with maximum temperatures up to 450 °C. We used microscopy, mineral chemistry, temperature-dependent magnetic susceptibility, and hysteresis properties to characterize the magnetic mineralogy of pre-, syn-, and postimpact rocks. Compared to its amount of pure, stoichiometric shocked magnetite, the granitoid basement shows low magnetic susceptibility, which is in line with earlier experimental studies indicating that shock reduces magnetic susceptibility. Cation-substituted magnetite with varying compositions in the melt rocks carries a higher induced and remanent magnetization compared to the basement. In the granitoid basement, magnetite was partially oxidized to hematite by a pre-impact hydrothermal event, but at lithological contacts with high-temperature impact melt rock, this hematite was locally retransformed back to magnetite. Elsewhere in the granitoid basement, the temperature reached in the hydrothermal system was too low for hematite retransformation. It was also too low to anneal all the lattice defects in the shocked magnetite, which likely occurs above 540 °C. The presence of shocked magnetite in the granitoid basement well explains the magnetic anomaly low due to its unusually low induced magnetization.
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Research Article|
May 26, 2023
Peak-ring magnetism: Rock and mineral magnetic properties of the Chicxulub impact crater
Bruno Daniel Leite Mendes;
Bruno Daniel Leite Mendes
1
Institute of Applied Geosciences—Structural Geology and Tectonics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
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Agnes Kontny;
Agnes Kontny
1
Institute of Applied Geosciences—Structural Geology and Tectonics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
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Michael Poelchau;
Michael Poelchau
2
General Geology and Structural Geology, Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, 79085 Freiburg, Germany
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Lennart A. Fischer;
Lennart A. Fischer
2
General Geology and Structural Geology, Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, 79085 Freiburg, Germany
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Ksenia Gaus;
Ksenia Gaus
1
Institute of Applied Geosciences—Structural Geology and Tectonics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
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Katarzyna Dudzisz;
Katarzyna Dudzisz
3
Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, PL01452 Warsaw, Poland
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Bonny W.M. Kuipers;
Bonny W.M. Kuipers
4
Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, 3584 CC Utrecht, Netherlands
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Mark J. Dekkers
Mark J. Dekkers
5
Paleomagnetic Laboratory Fort Hoofddijk, Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, 3584 CD Utrecht, Netherlands
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Bruno Daniel Leite Mendes
1
Institute of Applied Geosciences—Structural Geology and Tectonics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
Agnes Kontny
1
Institute of Applied Geosciences—Structural Geology and Tectonics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
Michael Poelchau
2
General Geology and Structural Geology, Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, 79085 Freiburg, Germany
Lennart A. Fischer
2
General Geology and Structural Geology, Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, 79085 Freiburg, Germany
Ksenia Gaus
1
Institute of Applied Geosciences—Structural Geology and Tectonics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
Katarzyna Dudzisz
3
Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, PL01452 Warsaw, Poland
Bonny W.M. Kuipers
4
Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, 3584 CC Utrecht, Netherlands
Mark J. Dekkers
5
Paleomagnetic Laboratory Fort Hoofddijk, Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, 3584 CD Utrecht, Netherlands
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Received:
19 Apr 2022
Revision Received:
17 Jan 2023
Accepted:
23 Feb 2023
First Online:
26 May 2023
Online ISSN: 1943-2674
Print ISSN: 0016-7606
© 2023 Geological Society of America
GSA Bulletin (2023)
Article history
Received:
19 Apr 2022
Revision Received:
17 Jan 2023
Accepted:
23 Feb 2023
First Online:
26 May 2023
Citation
Bruno Daniel Leite Mendes, Agnes Kontny, Michael Poelchau, Lennart A. Fischer, Ksenia Gaus, Katarzyna Dudzisz, Bonny W.M. Kuipers, Mark J. Dekkers; Peak-ring magnetism: Rock and mineral magnetic properties of the Chicxulub impact crater. GSA Bulletin 2023; doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/B36547.1
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Index Terms/Descriptors
- Atlantic Ocean
- Cenozoic
- Chicxulub Crater
- Cretaceous
- geothermal systems
- granites
- Gulf of Mexico
- hematite
- hysteresis
- igneous rocks
- impact craters
- impact features
- induced magnetization
- International Ocean Discovery Program
- lower Paleocene
- magnetic anomalies
- magnetic properties
- magnetite
- magnetization
- Mesozoic
- North Atlantic
- oxides
- Paleocene
- Paleogene
- paleomagnetism
- plutonic rocks
- stratigraphic boundary
- Tertiary
- Upper Cretaceous
- Expedition 364
- IODP Site M0077
- K-Pg boundary
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