Microstructures in shocked quartz: Linking nuclear airbursts and meteorite impacts

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11310%2F23%3A10475882" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11310/23:10475882 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=ujZtb3O0fn" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=ujZtb3O0fn</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.14293/ACI.2023.0001" target="_blank" >10.14293/ACI.2023.0001</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Microstructures in shocked quartz: Linking nuclear airbursts and meteorite impacts

Original language description

Many studies of hypervelocity impact craters have described the characteristics of quartz grains shock-metamorphosed at high pressures of &gt;10 GPa. In contrast, few studies have investigated shock metamorphism at lower shock pressures. In this study, we test the hypothesis that low-pressure shock metamorphism occurs in near-surface nuclear airbursts and that this process shares essential characteristics with crater-forming impact events. To investigate low-grade shock microstructures, we compared quartz grains from Meteor Crater, a 1.2-km-wide impact crater, to those from near-surface nuclear airbursts at the Alamogordo Bombing Range, New Mexico in 1945 and Kazakhstan in 1949/1953. This investigation utilized a comprehensive analytical suite of high-resolution techniques, including transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). Meteor Crater and the nuclear test sites all exhibit quartz grains with closely spaced, sub-micron-wide fractures that appear to have formed at low shock pressures. Significantly, these micro-fractures are closely associated with Dauphiné twins and are filled with amorphous silica (glass), widely considered a classic indicator of shock metamorphism. Thus, this study confirms that glass-filled shock fractures in quartz form during near-surface nuclear airbursts, as well as crater-forming impact events, and by extension, it suggests that they may form in any near-surface cosmic airbursts in which the shockwave is coupled to Earth&apos;s surface, as has been proposed. The robust characterization of such events is crucial because of their potential catastrophic effects on the Earth&apos;s environmental and biotic systems.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_ost - Miscellaneous article in a specialist periodical

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10505 - Geology

Project

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Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2023

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Airbursts and Cratering Impacts

ISSN

2941-9085

e-ISSN

2941-9085

Volume of the periodical

1

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

DE - GERMANY

Number of pages

40

Pages from-to

20230001

UT code for WoS article

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EID of the result in the Scopus database

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