Citation: | YOU Zhen-dong, LIU Rong. RESEARCH ON IMPACT TECTONICS AND IMPACTITES:STATUS AND PROSPECTS[J]. Journal of Geomechanics, 2008, 14(1): 22-36, 21. |
Transient (within 1 second)dynamic high pressures (ca tens of to up to one hundred GPa) and high temperatures (>1500℃)caused by the impact process will eventually result in the development of an astrobleme when a large meteorite impacts the earth's surface, and the surrounding rocks must undergo a special kind of metamorphism called impact metamorphism. The studies of impact tectonics include the following four topics:1. structure and morphology of the impact crater and its formation mechanism; 2. impact metamorphism and impact metamorphic rocks; 3. numerical simulation and experimental calculation of impact tectonics; and 4. economic benefits of impact tectonics. The studies of impact tectonics not only have academc significance but also have actual economic benefits. Vredefort-Witwatersrand in South Africa is one of the oldest impact tectonics and is also famous for its gold-uranium deposits. The Sudbury impact structure in Canada is famous for occurrence of a large syn-impact Cu-Ni deposit. Now oil and gas reservoirs related to post-impact tectonics are being explored for in a number of areas of North America and Central America. In addition, many impactites are used as building materials and many astroblemes become famous resort places, such as the Ries crater in Nordlingen, Germany. Much progress has been made in impact studies in China since the end of the 20th century. The Baisha crater found in Hainan in the early 1990s is known to the world and there are reports on possible craters such as Taihu in Jiangsu, Duolun in Inner Mongolia and Luoquanli near Xiuyan in Liaoning. However these structures remain to be further confirmed. The studies of global impact tectonics show that long-term stable cratons are favorable to discovering impact craters and many craters are hidden beneath Quaternary and older sediments. So satellite-borne photography and geophysical exploration will be effective in determining targets, and on that basis, through strengthening petrological and structural studies, impact craters may be confirmed.
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Simple impact crater (upper)and complex impact crater (lower)(after Hamilton, 2001)[5]
Meteor crater in Arizona, United States (aero-photograph from NASA 2005)[6]
Sudbury large scale impact crater.upper:impact tectonics and the distribution of impactites; lower:distribution of major ore deposits (after Reimold, 2005, Fig. 8)[7]
Popigai post-impact tectonics.Different fault blocks with various sizes and heights of uplift (after M aschak and Naumov, 2005)[8]
Typical impact geological settings in the Svecofennian domain (after Puura and Plado, 2005)[9]
PT field of impact metamorphism and various impact effects as compared with normal metamorphism (shaded area)(after French, 2003)[3]
Coesite inclusions (C) along fractures in quartz diaplectic glass from Ries, Germany (after French, 2003)[3]
Impacted Cocconino quartzite in the Meteor crater, Arizona.Quartz grains are full of PDFs (after French, 2003)[3]
Multiple sets of PDFs in quartz from impacted granite, Ries Germany:A [1013] or {0113}.B {1011}or {0111} (after French, 2003)[3]
Suevite from the Ries Crater, Besides feldspar and quartz there are fragments of oolitic limestone. Field width 3. 8mm (on courtesy of Prof.R Mason)
Impact melt in impact granite, Ries crater. FW = 3. 8mm (on courtesy of Prof.R Mason)
Pseudotachylite glass (outcrop) filled in a fractured quartzite.Hammer at the upper right corner of the picture denotes the scale (after French, 2003, Chapter 5)[3]
Shatter cone in fine-grained limestone of the Haughton impact structure, Canada.Note the dispersed horse tail-like striae with apices pointing upward.Width 10cm (after French, 2003)[3]