Sudbury Basin Sediments and the Meteoritic Impact Theory of Origin for the Sudbury Structure

Beales, F. W.; Lozej, G. P.

doi:10.1139/e75-056

Cited by 11 publications

(20 citation statements)

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“…Rousell (1984a) thought that the carbonaceous material of the Onwatin Formation might have been derived from floating algal mats in a deep, restricted basin. A biogenic origin for the carbonaceous matter in the Black Member of the Onwatin Formation was advocated by Beales and Lozej (1975) and Avermann (1992Avermann ( , 1994. Becker et al (1994aBecker et al ( , 1996, whose reported discovery of fullerenes in rocks of the Black Member attracted considerable attention to the problem, suggested that much of the carbon came from the impactor.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Origin of carbonaceous matter, fullerenes, and elemental sulfur in rocks of the Whitewater Group, Sudbury impact structure, Ontario, Canada

Heymann¹,

Dressler²,

Knell³

et al. 1999

Large Meteorite Impacts and Planetary Evolution; II

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New carbon determinations of 20 rocks confirm that both the breccias of the BlackMember of the Onaping Formation and the mudstones of the Onwatin Formation of the Whitewater Group in the 1.8-Ga Sudbury impact structure contain appreciable amounts of carbonaceous matter. The origin of the carbon has been a long-standing enigma. Carbon-bearing target rocks, either carbonaceous mudstones or carbonate target rocks are not its source, and neither is CO 2 from the atmosphere of the impact area, or carbon from the impacting projectile itself. Fumarolic activity is also ruled out. New isotopic δ 13 C results of carbon from 17 Black Member breccias, and 1 each from a Gray Member breccia and an Onwatin Formation range from -35.22 to -26.26‰. Together with Raman spectra of carbon from 11 of these samples, they lead to the conclusion that the Black Member carbon is biogenic. This unit cannot have formed as an "instant clastic sediment," but must have accumulated over several millions of years while prolific prokaryotic activity (archaea and bacteria) occurred. Isotopic δ 13 C and Raman results of carbon from an anthraxolite confirm that this carbon is derived from the Onwatin Formation. A search for fullerenes C60 and C70 by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in 17 rocks from the Black Member of the Onaping Formation, 1 rock from the Gray Member of the Onaping Formation, and by mass spectrometry of 3 breccias from the Black Member failed to find any fullerenes. Elemental sulfur in the breccias from the Gray and Black Members of the Onaping Formation and in one sample of the Onwatin Formation is due to weathering of pyrrhotite. The isotopic composition of the elemental sulfur as well as that of the sulfide-S contains a mass-independent fractionation component whose origin is not understood.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Origin of carbonaceous matter, fullerenes, and elemental sulfur in rocks of the Whitewater Group, Sudbury impact structure, Ontario, Canada

Heymann¹,

Dressler²,

Knell³

et al. 1999

Large Meteorite Impacts and Planetary Evolution; II

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“…The presence of water is essential in the evolution of the Onaping. There are sedimentary structures in the Upper Dowling unit (Peredery 1972;Beales and Lozej 1975;Avermann 1999;Ames et al 2002), lithologies such as peperite (Ames et al 2002) and the establishment of a major hydrothermal system, dated at 1848 Ma, throughout the Onaping (Ames et al 1998(Ames et al , 2006. The presence of (relatively rare) accretionary lapilli in the Equant Shard unit of the Sandcherry member and the Contact unit of the Dowling member also indicates the interaction of materials with both an atmosphere and water vapor (Sheridan and Wohletz 1983).…”

Section: Observation and Argumentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Working Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of the Onaping Formation at the Sudbury impact structure

Grieve

Ames

Morgan

et al. 2010

Meteorit & Planetary Scien

168

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Abstract-The 1.4-1.6 km thick Onaping Formation consists of a complex series of breccias and ''melt bodies'' lying above the Sudbury Igneous Complex (SIC) at the Sudbury impact structure. Based on the presence of shocked lithic clasts and various ''glassy'' phases, the Onaping has been described as a ''suevitic'' breccia, with an origin, at least in part, as fallback material. Recent mapping and a redefined stratigraphy have emphasized similarities and differences in its various vitric phases, both as clast types and discrete intrusive bodies. The nature of the Onaping and that of other ''suevitic'' breccias overlying impact melt sheets is reviewed. The relative thickness, internal stratigraphic and lithological character, and the relative chronology of depositional units indicate multiple processes were involved over some time in the formation of the Onaping. The Sudbury structure formed in a foreland basin and water played an essential role in the evolution of the Onaping, as indicated by a major hydrothermal system generated during its formation. Taken together, observations and interpretations of the Onaping suggest a working hypothesis for the origin of the Onaping that includes not only impact but also the interaction of sea water with the impact melt, resulting in repeated explosive interactions involving proto-SIC materials and mixing with pre-existing lithologies. This is complicated by additional brecciation events due to the intrusion of proto-SIC materials into the evolving and thickening Onaping. Fragmentation mechanisms changed as the system evolved and involved vesiculation in the formation of the upper two-thirds of the Onaping.

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“…It has been assumed by different authors (Burrows and Rickaby, 1930;Stevenson, 197;Beales and Lozej, 1975;Rousell, 1984) that the dark color of the Black Member matrix is caused by dispersed carbon but there are no investigations and literature data concerning the origin of the carbonaceous material.…”

Section: Carbon Investigationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Origin of the polymict, allochthonous breccias of the Onaping Formation, Sudbury Structure, Ontario, Canada

Avermann¹

1992

Geological Society of America Special Papers

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Favoring an impact model for the Sudbury Structure, the polymict, allochthonous breccias of the Onaping Formation were investigated petrographically and geochemically and interpreted as various impact breccias. The Basal Member at the base of the Onaping Formation is a clast-rich melt breccia on top of the impact melt (Sudbury Igneous Complex). The overlying Gray Member consists of suevitic meltrich breccias and represents ground-surge deposits grading into fall-back breccias. Going upward from the Gray to the Green Member, the latter is interpreted as an agglomerate of fine-grained and gradational final fall-back material, which was affected by high temperatures. Movements during the final phase of crater formation initiated lateral transport of suevitelike material into the central depression of the crater. The Lower Black Member is composed of these redeposited suevitic breccias and a carbonaceous matrix. The Upper Black Member at the top of the Onaping Formation represents reworked impact breccia material, with obvious sedimentary features, and forms a transition to the overlying slates of the Onwatin Formation.

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Sudbury Basin Sediments and the Meteoritic Impact Theory of Origin for the Sudbury Structure

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

Origin of carbonaceous matter, fullerenes, and elemental sulfur in rocks of the Whitewater Group, Sudbury impact structure, Ontario, Canada

Origin of carbonaceous matter, fullerenes, and elemental sulfur in rocks of the Whitewater Group, Sudbury impact structure, Ontario, Canada

The evolution of the Onaping Formation at the Sudbury impact structure

Origin of the polymict, allochthonous breccias of the Onaping Formation, Sudbury Structure, Ontario, Canada

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