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Tektites in Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary rocks on Haiti and their bearing on the Alvarez impact extinction hypothesis

January 1, 1991

Relic tektites are associated with a Pt-group metal abundance anomaly and shocked minerals in a thin marl bed that marks the K-T boundary on Haiti. The presence of these three impact-produced materials at the precise K-T boundary enormously strengthens the Alvarez impact extinction hypothesis. The tektites occur in smectite spherules that have external shapes typical of tektites. Their chemical and physical properties are broadly similar to those of other tektite groups, except that the Haitian tektites have lower Si and higher Fe, Ca, and Na. On average, they contain more Sc, V, Cu, Zn, Ga, Sr, Sn, and Ba and less Cr, Ni, Co, B, Mn, and Hf than Other tektite groups. Amounts of rare earth elements (REE) in the tektites indicate that their progenitor materials were not melted mafic or ultramafic oceanic crust; rather they were sedimentary deposits having a bulk composition of andesite. Rare tektites contain unusually high amounts of CaO (∼20%) and S (0.4%), and these data suggest that some target materials consisted of CaSO4. Anhydrite beds occur in the subsurface at two candidate impact sites (Chicxulub and Manson). Sm-Nd isotopic data for the tektites indicate that the melted precursor sediments were most likely deposited less than −400 m.y. between the Late Cretaceous and Silurian periods. Major chemical changes accompanied the diagenetic change of glass to smectite. The Haitian tektites are the first datable impact products in K-T boundary rocks, and 40Ar-39Ar ages of the glass show that the K-T boundary and impact event are coeval at 64.5±0.1 Ma.

Publication Year 1991
Title Tektites in Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary rocks on Haiti and their bearing on the Alvarez impact extinction hypothesis
DOI 10.1029/91JE02249
Authors G. A. Izett
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Journal of Geophysical Research
Index ID 70014962
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse