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Surficial geology of the Chicxulub impact crater, Yucatan, MexicoThe Chicxulub impact crater in northwestern Yucatan, Mexico is the primary candidate for the proposed impact that caused mass extinctions at the end of the Cretaceous Period. The crater is buried by up to a kilometer of Tertiary sediment and the most prominent surface expression is a ring of sink holes, known locally as cenotes, mapped with Landsat imagery. This 165 +/- 5 km diameter Cenote Ring demarcates a boundary between unfractured limestones inside the ring, and fractured limestones outside. The boundary forms a barrier to lateral ground water migration, resulting in increased flows, dissolution, and collapse thus forming the cenotes. The subsurface geology indicates that the fracturing that created the Cenote Ring is related to slumping in the rim of the buried crater, differential thicknesses in the rocks overlying the crater, or solution collapse within porous impact deposits. The Cenote Ring provides the most accurate position of the Chicxulub crater's center, and the associated faults, fractures, and stratigraphy indicate that the crater may be approximately 240 km in diameter.
Document ID
19950048318
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Pope, Kevin O.
(Geo Eco Arc Research, La Canada, CA US, United States)
Ocampo, Adriana C.
(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA US, United States)
Duller, Charles E.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, US, United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
November 1, 1993
Publication Information
Publication: Basic Space Science; United Nations(European Space Agency Workshop for Developing Countries, 2nd, San Jose, Costa Rica, November 2-7, 1992 . A95-79916
Volume: 63
Issue: 2
ISSN: 0167-9295
Subject Category
Geophysics
Accession Number
95A79917
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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