Fission-Track Dating of Haughton Astrobleme and Included Biota, Devon Island, Canada

Haughton Astrobleme is a major extraterrestrial impact structure located on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Northwest Territories. Apatite grains separated from shocked Precambrian gneiss contained in a polymict breccia from the center of the astrobleme yielded a fission-track date...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Omar, Gomaa, Johnson, Kirk R., Hickey, Leo J., Robertson, P. Blyth, Dawson, Mary R., Barnosky, Cathy W.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1987
Subjects:
Arctic
Canada
Canadian Arctic Archipelago
Devon Island
Northwest Territories
Arctic Archipelago
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.237.4822.1603
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.237.4822.1603
Description
Summary:Haughton Astrobleme is a major extraterrestrial impact structure located on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Northwest Territories. Apatite grains separated from shocked Precambrian gneiss contained in a polymict breccia from the center of the astrobleme yielded a fission-track date of 22.4 million ± 1.4 million years before the present or early Miocene (Aquitanian). This provides a date for the impact event and an upper limit on the age of crater-filling lake sediments and a flora and vertebrate fauna occurring in them. A geologically precise date for these fossils provides an important biostratigraphic reference point for interpreting the biotic evolution of the Arctic.

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