Abstract
The Earth is constantly bombarded by meteoroids of various sizes. During hypervelocity collisions a large amount of energy is coupled to the Earth’s atmosphere leading to disruption of decimeter to hundred meter-sized meteoroids. Smaller meteoroids may form meteorite strewn fields while larger initial bodies and high-strength iron meteoroids may form impact crater strewn fields. Impact crater strewn fields are ephemeral and none documented to date are older than about 63,500 years. Here we report on a newly discovered impact crater strewn field, about 280 Myr old, in tilted strata of the Rocky Mountains near Douglas, Wyoming. It is the oldest and among the largest of impact crater strewn fields discovered to date, extending for a minimum of 7.5 km along a SE-NW trajectory. The apparent width of the strewn field is 1.5 km, but the full extent of the crater strewn field is not yet constrained owing to restricted exposure. We probably see only a small section of the entire crater strewn field. The cascade of impacts occurred in an environment that preserved the craters from destruction. Shock lithification aided this process.
Highlights
Crater Strewn Field Age Target Lithology Max
We present a new impact crater strewn field that is exceptional in both size and age
The exposed strewn field on Sheep Mountain has a minimum length of 7.5 km oriented SE-NW (Fig. 1) and includes crater doublets and clusters (Figs 3 and 4)
Summary
Crater Strewn Field Age Target Lithology Max. Crater Size Number of Craters Field Length Field Width Impactor Overturned Flap PDF Lamellae Impact Glass Shock-lithification. Odessa[14 63,500] y Limestone 165 m 5 3 km 1.5 km Iron IAB No No Yes No frequently found in the area of the crater strewn fields (Table 1). All impact crater strewn fields described to date are formed by iron meteoroids and are less than about 63,500 years old[14] (Table 1). This apparent age limitation is related to the relatively short period of time it takes to either erode or bury such small-scale craters[20]. In some large crater-forming impact events, such as the Meteor Crater (Barringer Crater) event, atmosphere disrupted fragments may impact close to each other and contribute to the formation of a single impact crater[21]
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