New clues from Earth’s most elusive impact crater

[Oxytropidoceras]

Cavosie, A.J., N.E. Timms, T.M. Erickson, and C. Koeberl, 2017,

New clues from Earth’s most elusive impact crater: Evidence

of reidite in Australasian tektites from Thailand. Geology

Published: December 20, 2017 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1130/G39711.1

https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-abstract/525531/new-clues-from-earth-s-most-elusive-impact-crater?

 

" Here we report new evidence of a rare high-pressure

phase in Australasian tektites that further constrains

the location of the source crater. The former presence

of reidite, a high-pressure polymorph of zircon, was

detected in granular zircon grains within Muong

Nong–type tektites from Thailand."

 

"The data presented here place further constraints on the

distribution of high-pressure phases in Australasian tektites,

including coesite and now reidite, to an area centered over

Southeast Asia, which appears to be the most likely location

of the source crater."

 

An impact capable of producing such a large strewn field 

certainly must have devastated prehistoric fauna and flora

of Southeast Asia. I wonder if anyone has looked into this

aspect of this asteroid impact.

 

Yours,

 

Paul H.