EM - Escola de Minas

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Geochronological constraints on the age of a Permo–Triassic impact event : U–Pb and 40Ar/39Ar results for the 40 km Araguainha structure of central Brazil.
(2012) Tohver, Eric; Lana, Cristiano de Carvalho; Cawood, Peter Anthony; Trindade, Ricardo Ivan Ferreira da; Yokoyama, Elder; Souza Filho, Carlos Roberto de; Marangoni, Yára Regina
Impact cratering has been a fundamental geological process in Earth history with major ramifications for the biosphere. The complexity of shocked and melted rocks within impact structures presents difficulties for accurate and precise radiogenic isotope age determination, hampering the assessment of the effects of an individual event in the geological record. We demonstrate the utility of a multi-chronometer approach in our study of samples from the 40 km diameter Araguainha impact structure of central Brazil. Samples of uplifted basement granite display abundant evidence of shock deformation, but U/Pb ages of shocked zircons and the 40Ar/39Ar ages of feldspar from the granite largely preserve the igneous crystallization and cooling history. Mixed results are obtained from in situ 40Ar/39Ar spot analyses of shocked igneous biotites in the granite, with deformation along kink-bands resulting in highly localized, partial resetting in these grains. Likewise, spot analyses of perlitic glass from pseudotachylitic breccia samples reflect a combination of argon inheritance from wall rock material, the age of the glass itself, and post-impact devitrification. The timing of crater formation is better assessed using samples of impactgenerated melt rock where isotopic resetting is associated with textural evidence of melting and in situ crystallization. Granular aggregates of neocrystallized zircon form a cluster of ten U–Pb ages that yield a “Concordia” age of 247.8 ± 3.8 Ma. The possibility of Pb loss from this population suggests that this is a minimum age for the impact event. The best evidence for the age of the impact comes from the U–Th–Pb dating of neocrystallized monazite and 40Ar/39Ar step heating of three separate populations of post-impact, inclusion-rich quartz grains that are derived from the infill of miarolitic cavities. The 206Pb/238U age of 254.5 ± 3.2 Ma (2r error) and 208Pb/232Th age of 255.2 ± 4.8 Ma (2r error) of monazite, together with the inverse, 18 point isochron age of 254 ± 10Ma (MSWD = 0.52) for the inclusion-rich quartz grains yield a weighted mean age of 254.7 ± 2.5 Ma (0.99%, 2r error) for the impact event. The age of the Araguainha crater overlaps with the timing of the Permo–Triassic boundary, within error, but the calculated energy released by the Araguainha impact is insufficient to be a direct cause of the global mass extinction. However, the regional effects of the Araguainha impact event in the Parana´–Karoo Basin may have been substantial.
Electrical imaging of impact structures.
(2012) Tong, C. H.; Elis, Vagner Roberto; Lana, Cristiano de Carvalho; Marangoni, Yára Regina
Electrical imaging provides important subsurface information for the construction of hypervelocity impact models. We here provide an overview and evaluation of the current electrical imaging methods used in impact cratering studies. Although apparent resistivity models are commonly used in the geoelectrical imaging of impact structures, the reliability of these models has not hitherto been determined. In order to assess these imaging approaches in impact cratering, we investigate for the first time the discrepancies between the apparent resistivity and true resistivity models of an impact structure. To this end, we present (1) a new true resistivity model of the Araguainha impact structure in central Brazil by applying L2-norm inversion to previously published data, (2) apparent resistivity model of the impact structure, and (3) models obtained from different stages of the iterative tomographic inversions. Our results show that changes in vertical resistivity gradient are significantly better defined in the true resistivity models than in the apparent resistivity model. On the basis of these results, we outline a new approach that true resistivity models can be effectively assessed by applying both L1- and L2-norm inversion schemes together with the monitoring of intermediate models from iterative inversion. The results of our study highlight the importance of tomographic inversion of resistivity data in impact cratering studies, and they provide a data modeling framework and foundation for cost-effective subsurface imaging of impact structures in the future.
Magnetic fabric of Araguainha complex impact structure (Central Brazil) : implications for deformation mechanisms and central uplift formation.
(2012) Yokoyama, Elder; Trindade, Ricardo Ivan Ferreira da; Lana, Cristiano de Carvalho; Souza Filho, Carlos Roberto de; Baratoux, D.; Marangoni, Yára Regina; Tohver, Eric
The weakening mechanisms involved in the collapse of compleximpact craters are controversial. The Araguainhaimpact crater, in Brazil, exposes a complexstructure of 40 km in diameter, and is an excellent object to address this issue. Its core is dominated by granite. In addition to microstructural observations, magnetic studies reveal its internal fabric acquired during the collapse phase. All granite samples exhibit impact-related planar deformation features (PDFs) and planar fractures (PFs), which were overprinted by cataclasis. Cataclastic deformation has evolved from incipient brittle fracturing to the development of discrete shear bands in the center of the structure. Fracture planes are systematically decorated by tiny grains (< 10 μm) of magnetite and hematite, and the orientation of magnetic lineation and magnetic foliation obtained by the anisotropies of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) and anhysteretic remanence (AAR) are perfectly coaxial in all studied sites. Therefore, we could track the orientation of deformation features which are decorated by iron oxides using the AMS and AAR. The magneticfabrics show a regular pattern at the borders of the central peak, with orientations consistent with the fabric of sediments at the crater's inner collar and complex in the center of the structure. Both the cataclastic flow revealed from microstructural observations and the structural pattern of the magnetic anisotropy match the predictions from numerical models of compleximpactstructures. The widespread occurrence of cataclasis in the central peak, and its orientations revealed by magnetic studies indicate that acoustic fluidization likely operates at all scales, including the mineral scales. The cataclastic flow made possible by acoustic fluidization results in an apparent plastic deformation at the macroscopic scale in the core.

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