Postimpact heat conduction and compaction-driven fluid flow in the Chesapeake Bay impact structure based on downhole vitrinite reflectance data, ICDP-USGS Eyreville deep core holes and Cape Charles test holes

Malinconico, MaryAnn L.; Sanford, Ward E.; Horton, J. Wright

doi:10.1130/2009.2458(38)

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Following local heating to as high as 390 • C [122], micro-organisms must have recolonized the deeper fractured region of the structure after temperatures dropped below the upper temperature limit for microbial growth at 121 • C [123]. Although we were not able to enrich ironoxidizing bacteria, molecular methods indicated the presence of the iron-reducing genus, Geobacter, as members of the community.…”

Section: (B) Asteroid and Comet Impact Eventsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Life in the lithosphere, kinetics and the prospects for life elsewhere

Cockell

2011

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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The global contiguity of life on the Earth today is a result of the high flux of carbon and oxygen from oxygenic photosynthesis over the planetary surface and its use in aerobic respiration. Life's ability to directly use redox couples from components of the planetary lithosphere in a pre-oxygenic photosynthetic world can be investigated by studying the distribution of organisms that use energy sources normally bound within rocks, such as iron. Microbiological data from Iceland and the deep oceans show the kinetic limitations of living directly off igneous rocks in the lithosphere. Using energy directly extracted from rocks the lithosphere will support about six orders of magnitude less productivity than the present-day Earth, and it would be highly localized. Paradoxically, the biologically extreme conditions of the interior of a planet and the inimical conditions of outer space, between which life is trapped, are the locations from which volcanism and impact events, respectively, originate. These processes facilitate the release of redox couples from the planetary lithosphere and might enable it to achieve planetary-scale productivity approximately one to two orders of magnitude lower than that produced by oxygenic photosynthesis. The significance of the detection of extra-terrestrial life is that it will allow us to test these observations elsewhere and establish an understanding of universal relationships between lithospheres and life. These data also show that the search for extra-terrestrial life must be accomplished by 'following the kinetics', which is different from following the water or energy.

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Section: (B) Asteroid and Comet Impact Eventsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Life in the lithosphere, kinetics and the prospects for life elsewhere

Cockell

2011

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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“…The shock features and presence of melt in the upper part of the section shows that the section (or its constituent minerals) was subjected to sterilizing temperatures during impact. The quantity of melt phases suggests an average temperature at the time of deposition of greater than 350 °C (Malinconico et al, 2009), above the upper limit for life (>121 °C steam or >160 °C dry heat). Although there is no evidence to support regional lateral advection, microorganisms could have gradually diffused in from nearby clasts that were not sterilized or may have been carried in by compaction-driven vertical advection from the permeable schist and pegmatite region below (Sanford et al, 2007).…”

Section: Impact Fracturingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Geomicrobiology of Impact Structures

2012

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“…It is more consolidated than the upper parts, probably as a result of its location within a thermal aureole above the suevites (Horton et al. 2009b; Malinconico et al. 2009).…”

Section: Background and Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ferrell and Dypvik (2009) analyzed clay minerals in one sample of the matrix of the middle gravelly sand from 1390 m depth, and found smectite and kaolinite to be the main components of the clay fraction. Vitrinite reflectance data have been used to model the postimpact thermal history (Malinconico et al. 2009).…”

Section: Background and Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Petrography, mineralogy, and geochemistry of deep gravelly sands in the Eyreville B core, Chesapeake Bay impact structure

Bartošová

Gier

Horton

et al. 2010

Meteoritics &Amp; Planetary Science

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Abstract-The ICDP-USGS Eyreville drill cores in the Chesapeake Bay impact structure reached a total depth of 1766 m and comprise (from the bottom upwards) basement-derived schists and granites ⁄ pegmatites, impact breccias, mostly poorly lithified gravelly sand and crystalline blocks, a granitic slab, sedimentary breccias, and postimpact sediments. The gravelly sand and crystalline block section forms an approximately 26 m thick interval that includes an amphibolite block and boulders of cataclastic gneiss and suevite. Three gravelly sands (basal, middle, and upper) are distinguished within this interval. The gravelly sands are poorly sorted, clast supported, and generally massive, but crude size-sorting and subtle, discontinuous layers occur locally. Quartz and K-feldspar are the main sand-size minerals and smectite and kaolinite are the principal clay minerals. Other mineral grains occur only in accessory amounts and lithic clasts are sparse (only a few vol%). The gravelly sands are silica rich (80 wt% SiO 2 ). Trends with depth include a slight decrease in SiO 2 and slight increase in Fe 2 O 3 . The basal gravelly sand (below the cataclasite boulder) has a lower SiO 2 content, less K-feldspar, and more mica than the higher sands, and it contains more lithic clasts and melt particles that are probably reworked from the underlying suevite. The middle gravelly sand (below the amphibolite block) is finer-grained, contains more abundant clay minerals, and displays more variable chemical compositions than upper gravelly sand (above the block). Our mineralogical and geochemical results suggest that the gravelly sands are avalanche deposits derived probably from the nonmarine Potomac Formation in the lower part of the target sediment layer, in contrast to polymict diamictons higher in the core that have been interpreted as ocean-resurge debris flows, which is in agreement with previous interpretations. The mineralogy and geochemistry of the gravelly sands are typical for a passive continental margin source. There is no discernible mixing with marine sediments (no glauconite or Paleogene marine microfossils noted) during the impact remobilization and redeposition. The unshocked amphibolite block and cataclasite boulder might have originated from the outer parts of the transient crater.

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Postimpact heat conduction and compaction-driven fluid flow in the Chesapeake Bay impact structure based on downhole vitrinite reflectance data, ICDP-USGS Eyreville deep core holes and Cape Charles test holes

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

Life in the lithosphere, kinetics and the prospects for life elsewhere

Life in the lithosphere, kinetics and the prospects for life elsewhere

The Geomicrobiology of Impact Structures

Petrography, mineralogy, and geochemistry of deep gravelly sands in the Eyreville B core, Chesapeake Bay impact structure

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