The Boltysh impact structure: An early Danian impact event during recovery from the K-Pg mass extinction

Abstract

Both the Chicxulub and Boltysh impact events are associated with the K-Pg boundary. While Chicxulub is firmly linked to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, the temporal relationship of the ~24-km-diameter Boltysh impact to these events is uncertain, although it is thought to have occurred 2 to 5 ka before the mass extinction. Here, we conduct the first direct geochronological comparison of Boltysh to the K-Pg boundary. Our 40Ar/39Ar age of 65.39 ± 0.14/0.16 Ma shows that the impact occurred ~0.65 Ma after the mass extinction. At that time, the climate was recovering from the effects of the Chicxulub impact and Deccan trap flood volcanism. This age shows that Boltysh has a close temporal association with the Lower C29n hyperthermal recorded by global sediment archives and in the Boltysh crater lake sediments. The temporal coincidence raises the possibility that even a small impact event could disrupt recovery of the Earth system from catastrophic events.

A Late Paleocene age for Greenland’s Hiawatha impact structure

“…Carbon and oxygen isotope curves after ( 76 ) and references therein. Ages for other impact structures with absolute age constraints from compilation of ( 42 ) and references therein, except the age for Boltysh, which was published very recently ( 77 ). Age of spherules at P-E boundary from ( 50 ).…”

The Nadir Crater offshore West Africa: A candidate Cretaceous-Paleogene impact structure

“…Genetically related impact clusters have been proposed for the Ordovician ( 12 ), but other proposed clusters have not been confirmed because of a lack of sufficiently robust chronological data or because craters within proposed clusters fall within the expected terrestrial cratering rate ( 2 ). There are other impact craters close in age to the K-Pg boundary, particularly the large (24 km) Boltysh impact crater in present-day Ukraine, which has an age 65.4 Ma, ~650 thousand years (ka) younger than Chicxulub ( 64 ). Assuming a ~1500-m impactor ( 64 ), such an event would have an expected frequency of 1 to 2 Ma ( 2 ), which means that the time gap between Chicxulub and Boltysh is below the average rate of cratering for bodies of that size.…”

“…There are other impact craters close in age to the K-Pg boundary, particularly the large (24 km) Boltysh impact crater in present-day Ukraine, which has an age 65.4 Ma, ~650 thousand years (ka) younger than Chicxulub ( 64 ). Assuming a ~1500-m impactor ( 64 ), such an event would have an expected frequency of 1 to 2 Ma ( 2 ), which means that the time gap between Chicxulub and Boltysh is below the average rate of cratering for bodies of that size. There is also some limited evidence of other possible impacts, with remnants of meteorites, compositionally distinct from Chicxulub, discovered in the K-Pg boundary layer in Poland ( 63 ).…”

Reevaluating Links Between Meteorite Impacts and Early Cenozoic Global Warming

“…Schaller and Fung (2018) attributed the onset of the PETM (not the entire 5–8 K increase) to the formation of the 13‐km diameter, 58 ± 3 Ma Marquez Dome impact crater, Texas, where target rocks may have contained hydrocarbons. Another recent study proposed that the smaller 65.3 Ma Lower Chron 29n hyperthermal could also have resulted from the formation of the 24‐km diameter Boltysh impact crater, Ukraine, which had granitoid target rocks (Pickersgill et al., 2021).…”

“…Schaller and Fung (2018) attributed the onset of the PETM (not the entire 5-8 K increase) to the formation of the 13-km diameter, 58 ± 3 Ma Marquez Dome impact crater, Texas, where target rocks may have contained hydrocarbons. Another recent study proposed that the smaller 65.3 Ma Lower Chron 29n hyperthermal could also have resulted from the formation of the 24-km diameter Boltysh impact crater, Ukraine, which had granitoid target rocks (Pickersgill et al, 2021).During hypervelocity impacts, the kinetic energy transferred to the target is sufficient to vaporize and melt material, part of which forms the impact vapor plume, expanding into the atmosphere. Depending on the initial target composition, released species such as carbon or sulfur may induce climate changes.…”