Possible Mechanisms for Tsunami‐Like Surge Deposits Due To the Chicxulub Impact at the K‐Pg Boundary at the Tanis Site, North Dakota

Abstract

AbstractAt Tanis, a unique bi‐directional sediment package occurs precisely at the Cretaceous‐Paleogene (K‐Pg) boundary, recording the first hours of the Paleogene in uncommonly fine temporal detail. The impact ejecta‐bearing sediment package was rapidly emplaced by two massive, ∼10‐m‐high, potentially impact‐triggered surges, that inundated a steep, deeply incised paleo river valley from the direction of the contemporaneous Western Interior Seaway (WIS). Intermingling of fresh‐ and salt‐water fossils at Tanis, coeval brackish water indicators in the nearby region, and historical tsunami observations, suggest that the WIS paleoshoreline was nearby Tanis at K‐Pg time. The interpreted timing for deposition (including ejecta infall) of ∼1–2‐hr immediately post‐impact precludes a direct tsunami from the Chicxulub impact site, which would have required much more than 10 hr to reach Tanis. Seismic waves from the Mw ∼ 11 Chicxulub earthquake, arriving just minutes post‐impact, might have triggered the surge, for example, via seismic excitation of large water waves in the WIS, as proposed by DePalma et al. (2019, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1817407116). Here, we explore this mechanism via a simple mathematical model of seismic excitation and propagation of a water wave into a shallow river and upstream. Matching the observations implies a relatively long source process time of many minutes, such as generated by Chicxulub crater rebound processes, in order to explain sufficient upriver amplitudes and advective transport. Atmospheric waves due to the expanding Chicxulub ejecta curtain might have provided a smaller, secondary contribution during triggering. Thus, the mechanism(s) for the surges at Tanis are now better‐constrained, yet remain incompletely resolved.