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The Chicxulub impact structure reveals the first in-situ Jurassic magmatic intrusions of the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico

Journal Contribution - Journal Article

Impact events that create complex craters excavate mid- to lower-crustal rocks, offering a unique perspective on the interior composition and internal dynamics of planetary bodies. On the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, the surface geology mainly consists of ~3 km thick sedimentary rocks, with a lack of exposure of crystalline basement in many areas. Consequently, current understanding of the Yucatán subsurface is largely based on impact ejecta and drill cores recovered from the 180–200-km-diameter Chicxulub impact structure. In this study, we present the first apatite and titanite UPb ages for pre-impact dacitic, doleritic, and felsitic magmatic dikes preserved in Chicxulub's peak ring sampled during the 2016 IODP-ICDP Expedition 364. Dating yielded two age groups, with Carboniferous-aged dacites (327–318 Ma) and a felsite (342 ± 4 Ma) overlapping in age with most of the granitoid basement sampled in the Expedition 364 drill core, as well as Jurassic dolerites (168–159 Ma) and a felsite (152 ± 11 Ma) that represent the first in situ sampling of Jurassic-age magmatic intrusions for the Yucatán Peninsula. Further investigation of the Nd, Sr, and Hf isotopic compositions of these pre-impact lithologies and impact melt rocks from the peak ring structure suggest that dolerites generally contributed up to ~10 vol% of the Chicxulub impact melt rock sampled in the peak ring. This percentage implies that the dolerites comprised a large part of the Yucatán subsurface by volume, representing a hitherto unsampled pervasive Jurassic magmatic phase. We interpret this magmatic phase to be related to the opening of the Gulf of Mexico, representing the first physical sampling of lithologies associated with the southern extension of the opening of the Gulf of Mexico and likely constraining its onset to the Late Middle Jurassic.
Journal: Lithos
ISSN: 0024-4937
Volume: 436-437
Pages: 1-11
Publication year:2023
Keywords:Chicxulub impact structure, Gulf of Mexico opening, Impact Melt Rock, Jurassic aged pre-impact magmatic dikes, Geochronology, Petrography
Accessibility:Open