The recent discovery of the 31-km-wide Hiawatha impact crater has raised unanswered questions about its age, impactor and highly unusual organic carbon component. Previous research suggests a fractionated iron meteorite impactor, a probable maximum 3–2.4 Ma impact age and a possible Younger Dryas impact age. The first objective in this study has been to investigate a possible link between the Cape York meteorites and the Hiawatha impact crater by comparing the chromium isotopic signature in chromite from a Cape York meteorite with the chromium isotopic signature in potential chromite from the Hiawatha impactor. The second objective has been to investigate a possible Hiawatha signature in the Younger Dryas deposits from Baffin Bay. The third objective has been to study the organic carbon component in impactites derived from the Hiawatha impact crater. Heavy mineral grains were separated from glaciofluvial sediment which contains Hiawatha impactite grains. Not a single chromite grain was found and the possible link to the Cape York meteorites could not be tested. The petrographic examination of Younger Dryas marine deposits resulted in absence of impact-related Hiawatha grains. A petrological investigation revealed that organic carbon was likely found in five of six variably shocked impactites derived from the Hiawatha impact crater. The character of the organic carbon varies between the samples and also within individual samples. Vitrinite reflectance measurements of the organic carbon in two impactites yielded low reflectance values compared to charcoalification experiments of wood. Organic particles with different reflectance in the same sample suggest that the particles had different impact histories prior to settling and becoming a rock. Diagnostic conifer cellular texture was found in at least one of the samples. The character of the organic particles in the impactites supports the suggestion in a previous study that the sources of the Hiawatha organic carbon component are unmetamorphosed surficial deposits containing dead conifer tree trunks and fine-grained layered clay and organic matter. In this study it is concluded that the apparent absence of chromite in the examined glaciofluvial sediment sample corroborates the significance of previous research which suggests that the Hiawatha impactor was an iron meteorite. The apparent absence of impact related grains in the Younger Dryas deposits suggests that although a Younger Dryas age for the Hiawatha impact crater is less likely now, the possibility remains open. The organic carbon with diagnostic conifer cellular texture in the Hiawatha impactites corroborates the conclusion in a previous study that the Hiawatha impact-related organic carbon component stems from local, thermally degraded conifer trees with a probable age of ca. 3–2.4 Ma. It is also concluded that the relatively low reflectance values of the organic carbon in the Hiawatha impactites seem to be related to the short duration of the high-temperature excursion during the hypervelocity impact event.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:su-187412 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Gustafsson, Jacob |
| Publisher | Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för geologiska vetenskaper |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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