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ZHAMANSHIN AND AOUELLOUL: CRATERS PRODUCED BY IMPACT OF TEKTITE‐LIKE GLASSES?
Author(s) -
O'Keefe John A.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
meteoritics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1945-5100
pISSN - 0026-1114
DOI - 10.1111/j.1945-5100.1987.tb00620.x
Subject(s) - impact crater , meteorite , geology , astrobiology , projectile , geochemistry , mineralogy , materials science , metallurgy , physics
It is shown that the enhanced abundance of siderophile elements and chromium in tektite‐like glasses from the two impact craters of Zhamanshin and Aouelloul cannot be explained as a result of contamination of the country rock by meteorites nor, probably, comets. The pattern is, however, like that found in certain Australasian tektites, and in Ivory Coast tektites. It is concluded, in agreement with earlier suggestions by Campbell‐Smith and Hey, that these craters were formed by the impact of large masses of tektite‐like glass, of which the glasses which were studied are fragments. It follows that it is necessary, in considering an impact crater, to bear in mind that the projectile may have been a glass.