Preservation of biological markers in clasts within impact melt breccias from the Haughton impact structure, Devon Island
The 39 +/- 2 Ma Haughton impact structure on Devon Island comprises a thick target succession of sedimentary rocks, mainly carbonates. The carbonates contain pre-impact organic matter, including fossil biological markers. Haughton is located in an area where no major thermal event has affected the s...
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ftuglasgow:oai:eprints.gla.ac.uk:46257 2023-05-15T16:00:47+02:00 Preservation of biological markers in clasts within impact melt breccias from the Haughton impact structure, Devon Island Lindgren, P. Parnell, J. Bowden, S. Taylor, C. Osinski, G.R. Lee, P. 2009 http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/46257/ unknown Lindgren, P. <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/11218.html>, Parnell, J., Bowden, S., Taylor, C., Osinski, G.R. and Lee, P. (2009) Preservation of biological markers in clasts within impact melt breccias from the Haughton impact structure, Devon Island. Astrobiology <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/journal_volume/Astrobiology.html>, 9(4), pp. 391-400. Articles PeerReviewed 2009 ftuglasgow 2021-09-23T22:28:09Z The 39 +/- 2 Ma Haughton impact structure on Devon Island comprises a thick target succession of sedimentary rocks, mainly carbonates. The carbonates contain pre-impact organic matter, including fossil biological markers. Haughton is located in an area where no major thermal event has affected the sedimentary succession after heating caused by impact. This makes Haughton uniquely suitable for studies concerning the preservation of fossil biological markers following an impact event. Melt breccia is the most common impactite at Haughton. It is composed of clasts of the target, mainly carbonates, embedded in a fine groundmass. The groundmass is composed of material that was melted during impact. In this study, fossil biological marker maturity parameters (tricyclic terpane-hopane ratio and pregnane-sterane ratio) and an aromatic maturity parameter [methylphenanthrene ratio (MPR)] were used to compare the degree of thermal alteration in different size fractions of carbonate clasts (<0.5-4 cm in diameter) and between edges and centers of large carbonate clasts (15-20 cm in diameter). The data show that fossil biological markers can be preserved and detected in isolated large and small fractions of carbonate clasts that are embedded in an impact melt. The results also indicate that there is a thermal gradient from the center of a clast to the edge of a clast, which suggests that biological markers are more likely to be found preserved in the center of a clast. The thermal maturity values point to a higher degree of thermal alteration in the melt breccia carbonate clasts than in the coherent carbonate bedrock. Article in Journal/Newspaper Devon Island University of Glasgow: Enlighten - Publications Devon Island ENVELOPE(-88.000,-88.000,75.252,75.252) |
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University of Glasgow: Enlighten - Publications |
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ftuglasgow |
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unknown |
description |
The 39 +/- 2 Ma Haughton impact structure on Devon Island comprises a thick target succession of sedimentary rocks, mainly carbonates. The carbonates contain pre-impact organic matter, including fossil biological markers. Haughton is located in an area where no major thermal event has affected the sedimentary succession after heating caused by impact. This makes Haughton uniquely suitable for studies concerning the preservation of fossil biological markers following an impact event. Melt breccia is the most common impactite at Haughton. It is composed of clasts of the target, mainly carbonates, embedded in a fine groundmass. The groundmass is composed of material that was melted during impact. In this study, fossil biological marker maturity parameters (tricyclic terpane-hopane ratio and pregnane-sterane ratio) and an aromatic maturity parameter [methylphenanthrene ratio (MPR)] were used to compare the degree of thermal alteration in different size fractions of carbonate clasts (<0.5-4 cm in diameter) and between edges and centers of large carbonate clasts (15-20 cm in diameter). The data show that fossil biological markers can be preserved and detected in isolated large and small fractions of carbonate clasts that are embedded in an impact melt. The results also indicate that there is a thermal gradient from the center of a clast to the edge of a clast, which suggests that biological markers are more likely to be found preserved in the center of a clast. The thermal maturity values point to a higher degree of thermal alteration in the melt breccia carbonate clasts than in the coherent carbonate bedrock. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lindgren, P. Parnell, J. Bowden, S. Taylor, C. Osinski, G.R. Lee, P. |
spellingShingle |
Lindgren, P. Parnell, J. Bowden, S. Taylor, C. Osinski, G.R. Lee, P. Preservation of biological markers in clasts within impact melt breccias from the Haughton impact structure, Devon Island |
author_facet |
Lindgren, P. Parnell, J. Bowden, S. Taylor, C. Osinski, G.R. Lee, P. |
author_sort |
Lindgren, P. |
title |
Preservation of biological markers in clasts within impact melt breccias from the Haughton impact structure, Devon Island |
title_short |
Preservation of biological markers in clasts within impact melt breccias from the Haughton impact structure, Devon Island |
title_full |
Preservation of biological markers in clasts within impact melt breccias from the Haughton impact structure, Devon Island |
title_fullStr |
Preservation of biological markers in clasts within impact melt breccias from the Haughton impact structure, Devon Island |
title_full_unstemmed |
Preservation of biological markers in clasts within impact melt breccias from the Haughton impact structure, Devon Island |
title_sort |
preservation of biological markers in clasts within impact melt breccias from the haughton impact structure, devon island |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/46257/ |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-88.000,-88.000,75.252,75.252) |
geographic |
Devon Island |
geographic_facet |
Devon Island |
genre |
Devon Island |
genre_facet |
Devon Island |
op_relation |
Lindgren, P. <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/11218.html>, Parnell, J., Bowden, S., Taylor, C., Osinski, G.R. and Lee, P. (2009) Preservation of biological markers in clasts within impact melt breccias from the Haughton impact structure, Devon Island. Astrobiology <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/journal_volume/Astrobiology.html>, 9(4), pp. 391-400. |
_version_ |
1766396794910015488 |