Melt in the impact breccias from the Eyreville drill cores, Chesapeake Bay impact structure, USA

Abstract

The center of the 35.3Ma Chesapeake Bay impact structure (85km diameter) was drilled during 2005/2006 in an ICDP-USGS drilling project. The Eyreville drill cores include polymict impact breccias and associated rocks (1397-1551m depth). Tens of melt particles from these impactites were studied by optical and electron microscopy, electron microprobe, and microRaman spectroscopy, and classified into six groups: m1-clear or brownish melt, m2-brownish melt altered to phyllosilicates, m3-colorless silica melt, m4-melt with pyroxene and plagioclase crystallites, m5-dark brown melt, and m6-melt with globular texture. These melt types have partly overlapping major element abundances, and large compositional variations due to the presence of schlieren, poorly mixed melt phases, partly digested clasts, and variable crystallization and alteration. The different melt types also vary in their abundance with depth in the drill core. Based on the chemical data, mixing calculations were performed to determine possible precursors of these melt particles. The calculations suggest that most melt types formed mainly from the thick sedimentary section of the target sequence (mainly the Potomac Formation), but an additional crystalline basement (schist/gneiss) precursor is likely for the most abundant melt types m2 and m5. Sedimentary rocks with compositions similar to those of the melt particles are present among the Eyreville core samples. Therefore, sedimentary target rocks were the main precursor of the Eyreville melt particles. However, the composition of the melt particles is not only the result of the precursor composition but also the result of changes during melting and solidification, as well as postimpact alteration, which must also be considered. The variability of the melt particle compositions reflects the variety of target rocks and indicates that there was no uniform melt source. Original heterogeneities, resulting from melting of different target rocks, may be preserved in impactites of some large impact structures that formed in volatile-rich targets, because no large melt body exists, in which homogenization would have taken place. © The Meteoritical Society, 2011.