Impact spherules as a record of an ancient heavy bombardment of Earth (original) (raw)

References

  1. Simonson, B. M. & Glass, B. P. Spherule layers—records of ancient impacts. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 32, 329–361 (2004)
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  2. Ivanov, B. A. & Hartmann, W. K. In Treatise on Geophysics Vol. 10 Planets and Moons (ed. Schubert, G. ). 202–242 (Elsevier, 2007)
    Google Scholar
  3. Le Feuvre, M. & Wieczorek, M. A. Nonuniform cratering of the Moon and a revised crater chronology of the inner Solar System. Icarus 214, 1–20 (2011)
    Article ADS Google Scholar
  4. Stuart, J. S. & Binzel, R. P. Bias-corrected population, size distribution, and impact hazard for the near-Earth objects. Icarus 170, 295–311 (2004)
    Article ADS Google Scholar
  5. Johnson, B. C. & Melosh, H. J. Formation of spherules in impact produced vapor plumes. Icarus 217, 416–430 (2012)
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  6. Raizer, Y. P. Condensation of a cloud of vaporized matter expanding in vacuum. Sov. Phys. JETP 37, 1229–1235 (1960)
    Google Scholar
  7. Melosh, H. J. & Vickery, A. M. Melt droplet formation in energetic impact events. Nature 350, 494–497 (1991)
    Article ADS Google Scholar
  8. O’Keefe, J. D. & Ahrens, T. J. The interaction of the Cretaceous/Tertiary extinction bolide with the atmosphere, ocean, and solid Earth. Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap. 190, 103–120 (1982)
    Google Scholar
  9. Smit, J. The global stratigraphy of the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary impact ejecta. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 27, 75–113 (1999)
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  10. Alvarez, L. W., Alvarez, W., Asaro, F. & Michel, H. V. Extraterrestrial cause for the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction. Science 208, 1095–1108 (1980)
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  11. Collins, G. S., Melosh, H. J., Morgan, J. V. & Warner, M. R. Hydrocode simulations of Chicxulub crater collapse and peak-ring formation. Icarus 157, 24–33 (2002)
    Article ADS Google Scholar
  12. Kyte, F. T., Shukolyukov, A., Lugmair, G. W., Lowe, D. R. & Byerly, G. R. Early Archean spherule beds: chromium isotopes confirm origin through multiple impacts of projectiles of carbonaceous chondrite type. Geology 31, 283–286 (2003)
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  13. Lowe, D. R. et al. Spherule beds 3. 47–3. 24 billion years old in the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa: a record of large meteorite impacts and their influence on early crustal and biological evolution. Astrobiology 3, 7–48 (2003)
    Article ADS Google Scholar
  14. Yancey, T. E. & Guillemette, R. N. Carbonate accretionary lapilli in distal deposits of the Chicxulub impact event. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 120, 1105–1118 (2008)
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  15. Minton, D. A. & Malhotra, R. Dynamical erosion of the asteroid belt and implication for large impacts in the inner Solar System. Icarus 207, 744–757 (2010)
    Article ADS Google Scholar
  16. Lowe, D. R. & Byerly, G. R. Did LHB end not with a bang but a whimper? The geologic evidence. 41st Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. 2563 (2010)
  17. Gomes, R., Levinson, H. F., Tsiganis, K. & Morbidelli, A. Origin of the cataclysmic Late Heavy Bombardment period of the terrestrial planets. Nature 435, 466–469 (2005)
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  18. Bottke, W. F. et al. An Archaean heavy bombardment from a destabilized extension of the asteroid belt. Naturehttp://dxdoi.org/10.1038/nature10967 (this issue).
  19. Rasmussen, B. & Koeberl, C. Iridium anomalies and shocked quartz in a Late Archean spherule layer from Pilbara craton: new evidence for a major asteroid impact at 2. 63 Ga. Geology 32, 1029–1032 (2004)
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  20. Kohl, I., Simonson, B. M. & Berke, M. Diagenetic alteration of impact spherules in the Neoarchean Monteville layer, South Africa. Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap. 405, 57–73 (2006)
    Google Scholar
  21. Goderis, S. et al. Geochemical correlation of two late Archean impact spherule layers between South Africa and Western Australia: the Paraburdoo-Reivilo link. 43rd Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. 1882 (2011)
  22. Hassler, S. W., Simonson, B. M., Sumner, D. Y. & Bodin, L. Paraburdoo spherule layer (Hamersley Basin, Western Australia): distal ejecta from the fourth large impact near the Archean-Proterozoic boundary. Geology 39, 307–310 (2011)
    Article ADS Google Scholar
  23. Simonson, B. M. et al. Geochemistry of 2. 63–2. 49 Ga impact spherule layers and implications for stratigraphic correlations and impact processes. Precambr. Res. 175, 51–76 (2009)
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  24. Simonson, B. M. Geological evidence for a strewn field of impact spherules in the early Precambrian Hamersley basin of Western Australia. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 104, 829–839 (1992)
    Article ADS Google Scholar
  25. Glikson, A. & Allen, C. Iridium anomalies and fractionated siderophile element patterns in impact ejecta, Brockman Iron Formation, Hamersley basin, Western Australia: evidence for a major asteroid impact in simatic crustal regions of the early Proterozoic Earth. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 220, 247–264 (2004)
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  26. Simonson, B. M., Sumner, D. Y., Beukes, N. J., Johnson, S. & Gutzmer, J. Correlating multiple Neoarchean-Paleoproterozoic impact spherule layers between South Africa and Western Australia. Precambr. Res. 169, 100–111 (2009)
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  27. Chadwick, B., Claeys, P. & Simonson, B. New evidence for a large Palaeoproterozoic impact: spherules in a dolomite layer in the Ketilidian orogeny, South Greenland. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 158, 331–340 (2001)
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  28. Shukolyukov, A. & Lugmair, G. W. Isotopic evidence for the Cretaceous-Tertiary impactor and its type. Science 282, 927–930 (1998)
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  29. Glass, B. P., Koeberl, C., Blum, J. D. & McHugh, M. G. Upper Eocene tektite and impact ejecta layer on the continental slope off New Jersey. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 33, 229–241 (1998)
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  30. Kyte, F. T., Shukolykov, A., Hildebrand, A. R., Lugmair, G. W. & Hanova, J. Chromium-isotopes in Late Eocene impact spherules indicate a likely asteroid belt provenance. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 302, 279–286 (2011)
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar

Download references