Structural effects of meteorite impact on basalt: Evidence from Lonar crater, India

Abstract

Lonar crater is a simple, bowl‐shaped, near‐circular impact crater in the ∼65 Myr old Deccan Volcanic Province in India. As Lonar crater is a rare terrestrial crater formed entirely in basalt, it provides an excellent opportunity to study the impact deformation in target basalt, which is common on the surfaces of other terrestrial planets and their satellites. The present study aims at documenting the impact deformational structures in the massive basalt well exposed on the upper crater wall, where the basalt shows upward turning of the flow sequence, resulting in a circular deformation pattern. Three fracture systems (radial, concentric, and conical fractures) are exposed on the inner crater wall. On the fracture planes, plumose structures are common. Uplift and tilting of the basalt sequence and formation of the fractures inside the crater are clearly related to the impact event and are different from the preimpact structures such as cooling‐related columnar joints and fractures of possible tectonic origin, which are observed outside the crater. Slumping is common throughout the inner wall, and listric faulting displaces the flows in the northeastern inner wall. The impact structures of Lonar crater are broadly similar to those at other simple terrestrial craters in granites and clastic sedimentary rocks and even small‐scale experimental craters formed in gabbro targets. As Lonar crater is similar to the strength‐controlled laboratory craters, impact parameters could be modeled for this crater, provided maximum depth of fracture formation would be known.