Australasian impact crater buried under the Bolaven volcanic field, Southern Laos
The crater and proximal effects of the largest known young meteorite impact on Earth have eluded discovery for nearly a century. We present 4 lines of evidence that the 0.79-Ma impact crater of the Australasian tektites lies buried beneath lavas of a long-lived, 910-km3 volcanic field in Southern La...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/153327 |
| _version_ | 1826129525374713856 |
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| author | Sieh, Kerry Herrin, Jason Jicha, Brian Schonwalder Angel, Dayana Moore, James Daniel Paul Banerjee, Paramesh Wiwegwin, Weerachat Sihavong, Vanpheng Singer, Brad Chualaowanich, Tawachai Charusiri, Punya |
| author2 | Earth Observatory of Singapore |
| author_facet | Earth Observatory of Singapore Sieh, Kerry Herrin, Jason Jicha, Brian Schonwalder Angel, Dayana Moore, James Daniel Paul Banerjee, Paramesh Wiwegwin, Weerachat Sihavong, Vanpheng Singer, Brad Chualaowanich, Tawachai Charusiri, Punya |
| author_sort | Sieh, Kerry |
| collection | NTU |
| description | The crater and proximal effects of the largest known young meteorite impact on Earth have eluded discovery for nearly a century. We present 4 lines of evidence that the 0.79-Ma impact crater of the Australasian tektites lies buried beneath lavas of a long-lived, 910-km3 volcanic field in Southern Laos: 1) Tektite geochemistry implies the presence of young, weathered basalts at the site at the time of the impact. 2) Geologic mapping and 40Ar-39Ar dates confirm that both pre- and postimpact basaltic lavas exist at the proposed impact site and that postimpact basalts wholly cover it. 3) A gravity anomaly there may also reflect the presence of a buried ∼17 × 13-km crater. 4) The nature of an outcrop of thick, crudely layered, bouldery sandstone and mudstone breccia 10-20 km from the center of the impact and fractured quartz grains within its boulder clasts support its being part of the proximal ejecta blanket. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T07:42:01Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/153327 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T07:42:01Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1533272021-11-27T20:11:02Z Australasian impact crater buried under the Bolaven volcanic field, Southern Laos Sieh, Kerry Herrin, Jason Jicha, Brian Schonwalder Angel, Dayana Moore, James Daniel Paul Banerjee, Paramesh Wiwegwin, Weerachat Sihavong, Vanpheng Singer, Brad Chualaowanich, Tawachai Charusiri, Punya Earth Observatory of Singapore Science::Geology Impact Crater Australasian Laos Tektites The crater and proximal effects of the largest known young meteorite impact on Earth have eluded discovery for nearly a century. We present 4 lines of evidence that the 0.79-Ma impact crater of the Australasian tektites lies buried beneath lavas of a long-lived, 910-km3 volcanic field in Southern Laos: 1) Tektite geochemistry implies the presence of young, weathered basalts at the site at the time of the impact. 2) Geologic mapping and 40Ar-39Ar dates confirm that both pre- and postimpact basaltic lavas exist at the proposed impact site and that postimpact basalts wholly cover it. 3) A gravity anomaly there may also reflect the presence of a buried ∼17 × 13-km crater. 4) The nature of an outcrop of thick, crudely layered, bouldery sandstone and mudstone breccia 10-20 km from the center of the impact and fractured quartz grains within its boulder clasts support its being part of the proximal ejecta blanket. Ministry of Education (MOE) National Research Foundation (NRF) Published version This work was funded primarily by the Earth Observatory of Singapore, which receives most of its funding from the National Research Foundation Singapore and the Singapore Ministry of Education under the Research Centers of Excellence initiative. We acknowledge and appreciate the participation and generosity of the Department of Mineral Resources and Environment, Thailand, the Department of Geology and Mines, Lao PDR, and the Facility for Analysis, Characterisation, Testing, and Simulation at Nanyang Technological University. 2021-11-24T08:54:22Z 2021-11-24T08:54:22Z 2020 Journal Article Sieh, K., Herrin, J., Jicha, B., Schonwalder Angel, D., Moore, J. D. P., Banerjee, P., Wiwegwin, W., Sihavong, V., Singer, B., Chualaowanich, T. & Charusiri, P. (2020). Australasian impact crater buried under the Bolaven volcanic field, Southern Laos. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117(3), 1346-1353. https://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1904368116 0027-8424 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/153327 10.1073/pnas.1904368116 31889003 2-s2.0-85078093381 3 117 1346 1353 en Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 10.21979/N9/CTNDZQ © 2020 The Author(s). Published by National Academy of Sciences. This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialNoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND). application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Science::Geology Impact Crater Australasian Laos Tektites Sieh, Kerry Herrin, Jason Jicha, Brian Schonwalder Angel, Dayana Moore, James Daniel Paul Banerjee, Paramesh Wiwegwin, Weerachat Sihavong, Vanpheng Singer, Brad Chualaowanich, Tawachai Charusiri, Punya Australasian impact crater buried under the Bolaven volcanic field, Southern Laos |
| title | Australasian impact crater buried under the Bolaven volcanic field, Southern Laos |
| title_full | Australasian impact crater buried under the Bolaven volcanic field, Southern Laos |
| title_fullStr | Australasian impact crater buried under the Bolaven volcanic field, Southern Laos |
| title_full_unstemmed | Australasian impact crater buried under the Bolaven volcanic field, Southern Laos |
| title_short | Australasian impact crater buried under the Bolaven volcanic field, Southern Laos |
| title_sort | australasian impact crater buried under the bolaven volcanic field southern laos |
| topic | Science::Geology Impact Crater Australasian Laos Tektites |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/153327 |
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