Skip to main content
Earth, Planets and Space
Download PDF

Volume 58 Supplement 10

Special Issue: Paleomagnetism and Tectonics in Latinamerica

Magnetostratigraphy of the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary and early Paleocene sedimentary sequence from the Chicxulub Impact Crater

Earth, Planets and Space volume 58, pages 1309–1314 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

We report on the magnetostratigraphy of the Chicxulub crater impact breccias and first 15 meters of the Paleocene sedimentary sequence recovered in three boreholes of the UNAM Scientific Drilling Program. Three geomagnetic polarity zones are documented in the impact breccias and sedimentary sequence, which span from chron 29R to 28N. For the 15 m interval they represent ∼2.5 Ma, which yields low apparent sedimentary rates for boreholes UNAM-5 (110 km from the center of the crater) and UNAM-7 (127 km from the center of the crater). The carbonate sedimentary sequence can be associated to a shallow basin depositional environment. In these boreholes the thickness between the 29R and the 29N chrons is just 0.5 m, suggesting that during the 100 ka from the K/T boundary to the polarity transition sediments were not deposited or eroded. Within borehole UNAM-6 (152 km from the center of the crater) it appears that sediments containing chron 29N are missing, the lack of the upper breccias, the long duration of a reversal event within the base of the sequence and low apparent sedimentary rate of 3.3 m/Ma, suggests a hiatus within the impact breccias and the basal Paleocene sedimentary sequence. Magnetic susceptibility logs confirm absence of the upper breccias at UNAM-6 borehole. Magnetic susceptibility values increase towards the base of the sequence, suggesting that basement and melt clasts were subjected to a low temperature hydrothermal alteration.

References

  • Cande, S. C. and D. V. Kent, Revised calibration of the geomagnetic polarity timescale for the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic, Journal of Geophysical Research, 100(B4), 6093–6095, 1995.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, R. A., Dispersion on a sphere, Proc. Roy. Soc. London, A217, 295–305, 1953.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hildebrand, A. R., G. T. Penfield, D. A. Kring, M. Pilkington, A. Camargo, S. B. Jacobsen, and W. V. Boyton, Chicxulub Crater: A possible Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary impact crater on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, Geology, 19, 867–871, 1991.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hörz, F., R. Ostertag et al., Bunte breccia of the Ries: Continous Deposits of large Impact Crater, Reviews of Geophysical Space Physics, 21, 1667–1725, 1983.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, N. M. and V. E. McGee, Magnetic polarity stratigraphy: Stochastic properties of data, sampling problems, and the evolution of interpretations, Journal Geophysical Research, 88, 1213–1221, 1983.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keller, G., W. Stinnesbeck, T. Adatte, M. Rebolledo-Vieyra, J. Urrutia-Fucugauchi, U. Kramar, and Stüben, D., Chicxulub impact predates K-T boundary mass extinction, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 101, 11, 3753–3758, 2004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirschvink, J. L., The least-square line and plane and the analysis of palaeomagnetic data, Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 62, 699–718, 1980.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lopez-Ramos, E., Estudio geologico de la Peninsula de Yucatan, Asociacion Mexicana de Geologos Petroleros, Boletin, 25, 23–76, 1973.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marin, L. E., V. L. Sharpton, J. Smit, P. Sikora, C. Carney, and M. Rebolledo-Vieyra, Stratigraphy at ground zero: A contemporary evaluation of well data in the Chicxulub impact crater, International Geology Review, 43, 12, 1145–1149, 2001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newsom, H. G., G. Graup, D. Fseri, J. Geissman, and K. Keil, The formation of the Ries crater, West Germany: Evidence of atmospheric interactions during a large cratering event, in Global Catastrophes in Earth History: An Interdisciplinary conference on Impacts, Volcanism and Mass Mortality, edited by V. L. Sharpton and P. D. Ward, Geol. Soc. Am. Sp. Pap., 247, pp. 196–206, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Penfield, G. T. and A. Camargo, Definition of a major igneous zone in the central Yucatan platform with aeromagnetics and gravity, Soc. Explor. Geophys. Annu. Meeting, Tech. Progr. Abstracts, 51, 37 (abstr), 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pilkington, M., D. E. Ames, and A. R. Hildebrand, Magnetic mineralogy of the Yaxcopoil-1 core, Chicxulub crater, Meteoritics and Planetary Sciences, 39, 831–842, 2004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pope, K. O., A. C. Ocampo, G. L. Kinsland, and R. Smith, Surface expression of the Chicxulub crater, Geology, 24, 527–530, 1996.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rebolledo-Vieyra, M. and J. Urrutia-Fucugauchi, High-resolution magnetic susceptibility record of the impact lithologies of the Chicxulub impact crater, EOS, Transactions American Geophysical Union, 80, 46. F595, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rebolledo-Vieyra, M. and J. Urrutia-Fucugauchi, Magnetostratigraphy of the impact breccias and post-impact carbonates from borehole Yaxcopoil-1, Chicxulub impact crater, Yucatan, Mexico, Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 39(6 and 7), 821–830, 2004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rebolledo-Vieyra, M., J. Urrutia-Fucugauchi, L. Marin, A. Trejo-Garcia, A. M. Soler-Arechalde, and V L. Sharpton, UNAM Scientific Shallow Drilling Program of the Chicxulub impact crater, International Geology Review, 42, 948–972, 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadler, P. M., Sediment accumulation rates and the completeness of stratigraphic sections, Journal of Geology, 89, 569–584, 1981.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharpton, V. L., G. B. Dalrymple, L. E. Marin, G. Ryder, B. C. Shuraytz, and J. Urrutia-Fucugauchi, New links between the Chicxulub impact structure and the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary, Nature, 359, 819–821, 1992.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smit, J., The global stratigraphy of the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary impact ejecta, Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci., 25,75–113, 1999.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smit, J., S. V D. Gaast et al., Is the transition impact to post-impact rock complete? Some remarks based on XRF scanning, electron-microprobe, and thin section analyses of the Yaxcopoil-1 core in the Chicxulub crater, Meteoritics and Planetary Sciences, 39(6–7), 1113–1126, 2004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stöffler, D., Research drilling Nördlingen 1973: polymictic breccias, crater basement and cratering model of the Ries impact crater, Geol. Bavarica, 75, 443–458, 1977.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swisher, C. C. and 11 others, Coeval 40Ar/39 Ar ages of 65.0 million years ago from Chicxulub crater melt rock and Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary tektites, Science, 257, 954–958, 1996.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J., L. Marin, and V. L. Sharpton, Reverse polarity magnetized melt rocks from the Cretaceous/Tertiary Chicxulub structure, Yucatan peninsula, Mexico, Tectonophysics, 237, 105–112, 1994.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J., J. Morgan, D. Stoeffler, and P. Claeys, (Eds), The Chicxulub Scientific Drilling Project, Meteoritics and Planetary Sciences, 39(6 and 7), 2004a.

  • Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J., A. M. Soler-Arechalde, M. Rebolledo-Vieyra, and P. Vera-Sánchez, Paleomagnetic and rock-magnetic study of the Yaxcopoil-1 impact breccia sequence, Chicxulub impact crater (Mexico), Meteoritics and Planetary Sciences, 39(6 and 7), 843–856, 2004b.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Von Engelhardt, W., Distribution, petrography and shock metamorphism of the ejecta of the Ries crater in Germany—A review, Tectonophysics, 171,259–273,1990.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ward, W. C., G. Keller, W. Stinnesbeck, and T. Adatte, Yucatan subsurface stratigraphy: Implications and constraints for the Chicxulub impact, Geology, 23, 873–876, 1995.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Mario Rebolledo-Vieyra

    Present address: Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, CICY, Mérida, Yucatán, México

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Paleomagnetismo, Instituto de Geofisica, UNAM, Circuito Exterior S/N, Cd. Universitaria, Coyoacan, D.F., 04510, Mexico

    Mario Rebolledo-Vieyra & Jaime Urrutia-Fucugauchi

Authors
  1. Mario Rebolledo-Vieyra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jaime Urrutia-Fucugauchi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mario Rebolledo-Vieyra.

Rights and permissions

Open Access  This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.

The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rebolledo-Vieyra, M., Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J. Magnetostratigraphy of the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary and early Paleocene sedimentary sequence from the Chicxulub Impact Crater. Earth Planet Sp 58, 1309–1314 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352626

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352626

Key words