Impact glasses from Belize represent tektites from the Pleistocene Pantasma impact crater in Nicaragua

Rochette, P.; Beck, Pierre; Bizzarro, Martin; Braucher, Régis; Cornec, J.; Debaille, Vinciane; Devouard, Bertrand; Gattacceca, J.; Jourdan, Fred; Moustard, F.; Moynier, Frédéric; Nomade, Sébastien; Reynard, Bruno

doi:10.1038/s43247-021-00155-1

Cited by 23 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…• The first comprehensive rock magnetism study is performed for both splash-form and Muong Nongtype tektites from South China • Samples from China generally exhibit lower magnetic susceptibility, natural remanent magnetization, and ratio of equivalent magnetization • Different shock levels and cooling histories of tektite melt can explain the observed magnetic properties, and Fe-S spherules are found called a strewn field (Chapman, 1971;Glass, 1990). So far, five major Cenozoic strewn fields are recognized on Earth (Figure 1a), including the Australasian strewn field (AASF), North American strewn field (NASF), Central European strewn field (CESF), Ivory Coast strewn field (ICSF), and the recently confirmed Belize strewn field (Koeberl et al, 2022;Rochette et al, 2021). The source craters of NASF, CESF, ICSF and Belize strewn field have been identified, but that of AASF, the largest one that covers about 20% of the Earth's surface (Figure 1a), is still not confirmed after more than half a century survey.…”

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confidence: 99%

Magnetic Properties of Australasian Tektites From South China

Pan

Shi

et al. 2023

JGR Solid Earth

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South China, the northern part of the Australasian strewn field (AASF) of tektites and microtektites is located at the uprange of the hypothesized source crater that is still unconfirmed. Magnetic properties of impact glasses are an important indicator of their source materials and thermal history. Extensive magnetic investigations have been performed on various AASF tektites sampled from both the Indochina Peninsula and further south, but such information remains sparse for those sampled from South China. Here, we present a detailed rock magnetism study for both Muong Nong‐type and splash‐form AASF tektites from South China, showing that all the tektites have rather weak remanent magnetization, but ferromagnetic information can be extracted from their dominating paramagnetic signal. Signals caused by superparamagnetic particles are elusive, but those of single domain magnetite are detected in the splash‐form tektites, and signals of pseudo‐single domain magnetite are discovered in the Muong Nong‐type tektites. Each morphological type of tektites from a same geographic area exhibits large dispersions in their magnetic properties. Across the entire AASF, the Muong Nong‐type tektites from South China exhibit the lowest average magnetic susceptibility, and the splash‐form tektites exhibit the smallest average natural remanent magnetization and ratio of equivalent magnetization. The observed heterogeneous magnetic properties are mainly caused by the different contents and sizes of magnetic particles, which can be explained by the different shock level and/or cooling history of the tektite melts. Micro‐sized immiscible Fe‐S spherules in the Muong Nong‐type tektites from South China were likely originated from the pre‐impact target.

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confidence: 99%

Magnetic Properties of Australasian Tektites From South China

Pan

Shi

et al. 2023

JGR Solid Earth

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“…The functionality of the “inverted stratigraphy” model for explaining the 10 Be distribution in AAT may also be problematic anywhere in the consensus area. A clear analogy is missing with the other major tektite strewn fields (including the Belize impact glass strewn field that has recently been suggested to be paired with the Pantasma impact crater in Nicaragua; Rochette et al., 2021); in those four cases, tektites are always found quite distant from their parent crater, and the crater is never situated inside the major part of the paired strewn field.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quest for the Australasian impact crater: Failings of the candidate location at the Bolaven Plateau, Southern Laos

Mizera

2022

Meteorit & Planetary Scien

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The quest for the parent impact structure for Australasian tektites (AAT) has remained without solution for almost a century. The present paper doubts the plausibility of the recently proposed location of the impact site at the Bolaven volcanic field in Southern Laos by showing problems with most of the presented lines of evidence. The geochemical incompatibility of the AAT composition with a mixture of weathered basalts and Mesozoic sandstones that were proposed as source materials of AAT is demonstrated by a two‐component mixing calculation for major element oxides and the Nd‐Sr isotopic system. Deficiency of the basaltic component as a source of Ni, Co, Cr, and 10Be in AAT and inconsistency with trends observed for O and Pb isotopes are shown. The size of the putative crater, conclusiveness of a gravity anomaly identification, signs of complete crater burial by postimpact lava flows, and identification of proximal ejecta blanket are doubted. Remarks on the shortcomings of the current consensus location of an impact site for AAT in Indochina are presented.

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“…Two other possible strewn fields have also recently been proposed. The first is in the form of impact glasses from Belize that have been linked to the Pantasma impact crater located ~530 km away (Rochette et al, 2021). We say "possible" as the authors acknowledge that while the Belize impact glasses share many characteristics with known tektites, they also possess "several peculiar features".…”

Section: Tektitesmentioning

confidence: 99%