Shocked Quartz in Polymict Impact Breccia from the Upper Cretaceous Yallalie Impact Structure in Western Australia

Yallalie is a ~12 km diameter circular structure located ~200 km north of Perth, Australia. Previous studies have proposed that the buried structure is a complex impact crater based on geophysical data. Allochthonous breccia exposed near the structure has previously been interpreted as proximal impact ejecta; however, no diagnostic indicators of shock metamorphism have been found. Here we report multiple (27) shocked quartz grains containing planar fractures (PFs) and planar deformation features (PDFs) in the breccia. The PFs occur in up to five sets per grain, while the PDFs occur in up to four sets per grain. Universal stage measurements of all 27 shocked quartz grains confirms that the planar microstructures occur in known crystallographic orientations in quartz corresponding to shock compression from 5 to 20 GPa. Proximity to the buried structure (~4 km) and occurrence of shocked quartz indicates that the breccia represents either primary or reworked ejecta. Ejecta distribution simulated using iSALE hydrocode predicts the same distribution of shock levels at the site as those found in the breccia, which supports a primary ejecta interpretation, although local reworking cannot be excluded. The Yallalie impact event is stratigraphically constrained to have occurred in the interval from 89.8 to 83.6 Ma based on the occurrence of Coniacian clasts in the breccia and undisturbed overlying Santonian to Campanian sedimentary rocks. Yallalie is thus the first confirmed Upper Cretaceous impact structure in Australia

Where are the Shocked Grains in the Hadean Zircon Record? Insights on the Preservation of Shocked Zircon and Their U-Pb Systematics

While the earliest history of many planetary bodies within the inner Solar System is dominated by intense bombardment, this record is missing from Earth due to active tectonics and erosion. Where-as rocks from the earliest history of Earth are absent, mineral relics, such as ancient detrital zircon concentrated in sediments within the Jack Hills, Narryer, Illara and Maynard Hills greenstone belts of the Yilgarn Craton in Western Australia preserve a record of this time.Shock in zircon: During shock deformation, resulting from hyper-velocity impact, zircon can be modified in crystallographically-controlled ways. This includes the development of planar and subplanar low-angle grain boundaries, the formation of mechanical twins, transformation to the high pressure polymorph reidite, development of polycrystalline microtexture, and dissociation to its dioxide constituents SiO2 and ZrO2

Phase Heritage: Deciphering Evidence of Pre-Existing Phases via Inherited Crystallographic Orientations

The concept of 'phase heritage' (e.g., Timms et al., 2017a) involves microstructural recognition of the former presence of a phase that has since transformed to another via evidence encoded in crystallographic orientations. Phase heritage relies on the phenomenon that newly grown (daughter) phases nucleate with particular crystallographic orientation relationships with the preceding (parent) phase. This phenomenon is common for displacive (i.e., shear or martensitic) transformations, well documented in the metals and ceramics literature, but is relatively uncommon in geosciences. This presentation outlines the concepts behind this approach, showcases results from software for automated analysis of EBSD data, and illustrates examples of polymorphic and dissociation phase transformations in the ZrSiO4-ZrO2-SiO2 system, which has particularly useful applications for 'extreme thermobarometry' in impact environments (Timms et al., 2017a)

Shock impedance amplified impact deformation of zircon in granitic rocks from the Chicxulub impact crater

Zircon is a precise chronometer and prominent recorder of impact deformation. However, many impact-induced features in zircon are poorly calibrated, sometimes due to contradicting experimental data, in other instances due to the lack of systematic studies of impact-deformed zircon. To resolve issues with the shock petrographic use of zircon, we classified impact deformation features in 429 zircon grains in a continuous drill core of uplifted, granitic bedrock in the peak ring of the 200-km-diameter K-Pg Chicxulub impact structure. Following initial identification in backscattered electron (BSE) images, Raman spectroscopy and electron backscatter diffraction confirmed one reidite-bearing zircon grain. Quartz-based shock barometry indicates the host rock of this zircon-reidite grain experienced an average shock pressure of 17.5 GPa. A survey of BSE images of 429 ZrSiO4 grains found brittle deformation features are ubiquitous, with planar fractures in one to five sets occurring in 23% of all zircon grains. Our survey also reveals a statistically significant correlation of the occurrence of planar fractures in zircon with the types of host materials. Compared to zircon enclosed in mafic, higher density mineral hosts, felsic, low-density minerals show a much higher incidence of zircon with planar fractures. This finding suggests amplification of pressure due to shock impedance contrasts between zircon and its mineral hosts. Using the impedance matching method, we modeled the shock impedance pressure amplification effect for zircon inclusions in Chicxulub granitic hosts. Our modeling indicates shock impedance could have amplified the average 17.5 GPa shock pressure in a zircon inclusion in quartz or feldspar in the Chicxulub granitic rocks to 24 ± 1 GPa, suggesting that reidite in these rocks formed between 17.5 and 25 GPa. In essence, our study of impedance-induced shock pressure amplification in zircon assemblages, including the onset of reidite formation, details how shock impedance in mineral associations can be quantified to refine shock pressure estimates

Shocked monazite chronometry: integrating microstructural and in situ isotopic age data for determining precise impact ages

Monazite is a robust geochronometer and occurs in a wide range of rock types. Monazite also records shock deformation from meteorite impact but the effects of impact-related microstructures on the U–Th–Pb systematics remain poorly constrained. We have, therefore, analyzed shock-deformed monazite grains from the central uplift of the Vredefort impact structure, South Africa, and impact melt from the Araguainha impact structure, Brazil, using electron backscatter diffraction, electron microprobe elemental mapping, and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Crystallographic orientation mapping of monazite grains from both impact structures reveals a similar combination of crystal-plastic deformation features, including shock twins, planar deformation bands and neoblasts. Shock twins were documented in up to four different orientations within individual monazite grains, occurring as compound and/or type one twins in (001), (100), (10 1 ¯) , {110}, { 212 } , and type two (irrational) twin planes with rational shear directions in [ 0 1 ¯ 1 ¯ ] and [ 1 ¯ 1 ¯ 0 ]. SIMS U–Th–Pb analyses of the plastically deformed parent domains reveal discordant age arrays, where discordance scales with increasing plastic strain. The correlation between discordance and strain is likely a result of the formation of fast diffusion pathways during the shock event. Neoblasts in granular monazite domains are strain-free, having grown during the impact events via consumption of strained parent grains. Neoblastic monazite from the Inlandsee leucogranofels at Vredefort records a 207Pb/206Pb age of 2010 ± 15 Ma (2σ, n = 9), consistent with previous impact age estimates of 2020 Ma. Neoblastic monazite from Araguainha impact melt yield a Concordia age of 259 ± 5 Ma (2σ, n = 7), which is consistent with previous impact age estimates of 255 ± 3 Ma. Our results demonstrate that targeting discrete microstructural domains in shocked monazite, as identified through orientation mapping, for in situ U–Th–Pb analysis can date impact-related deformation. Monazite is, therefore, one of the few high-temperature geochronometers that can be used for accurate and precise dating of meteorite impacts

Sphene Emotional: How Titanite Was Shocked When the Dinosaurs Died

Accessory mineral geochronometers such as zircon, monazite, baddeleyite, and xenotime are increasingly being recognized for their ability to preserve diagnostic microstructural evidence of hypervelocity processes. However, little is known about the response of titanite to shock metamorphism, even though it is a widespread accessory phase and U-Pb geochronometer. Here we report two new mechanical twin modes in titanite within shocked granitoids from the Chicxulub impact structure, Mexico. Titanite grains in the newly acquired International Ocean Discovery Program Site expedition 364 M0077A core preserve multiple sets of polysynthetic twins, most commonly with composition planes (K1), = ~{111}, and shear direction (1) = , and less commonly with the mode K1 = {130}, 1 = ~. In some grains, {130} deformation bands have formed concurrently with shock twins, indicating dislocation glide with Burgers vector b = [341] can be active at shock conditions. Twinning of titanite in these modes, the presence of planar deformation features in shocked quartz, and lack of diagnostic shock microstructures in zircon in the same samples highlights the utility of titanite as a shock indicator for a shock pressure range between ~12 and ~17 GPa. Given the challenges of identifying ancient impact evidence on Earth and other bodies, microstructural analysis of titanite is here demonstrated to be a new avenue for recognizing impact deformation in materials where other impact evidence may be erased, altered, or did not manifest due to low shock pressure

Hints of Universality from Inflection Point Inflation

This work aims to understand how cosmic inflation embeds into larger models of particle physics and string theory. Our work operates within a weakened version of the Landscape paradigm, wherein it is assumed that the set of possible Lagrangians is vast enough to admit the notion of a generic model. By focusing on slow-roll inflation, we examine the roles of both the scalar potential and the space of couplings which determine its precise form. In particular, we focus on the structural properties of the scalar potential, and find a surprising result: inflection point inflation emerges as an important —and under certain assumptions, dominant — possibility in the context of generic scalar potentials. We begin by a systematic coarse graining over the set of possible inflection point inflation models using V.I. Arnold’s ADE classification of singularities. Similar to du Val’s pioneering work on surface singularities, these determine structural classes for inflection point inflation which depened on a distinct number of control parameters. We consider both single and multifield inflation, and show how the various structural classes embed within each other. We also show how such control parameters influence the larger physical models in to which inflation is embedded. These techniques are then applied to both MSSM inflation and KKLT-type models of string cosmology. In the former case, we find that the scale of inflation can be entirely encoded within the super- potential of supersymmetric quantum field theories. We show how this relieves the fine-tuning required in such models by upwards of twelve orders of magnitude. Moreover, unnatural tuning between SUSY breaking and SUSY preserving sectors is eliminated without the explicit need for any hidden sector dynamics. In the later case, we discuss how structural stability vastly generalizes — and addresses — the Kallosh-Linde problem. Implications for the spectrum of SUSY breaking soft terms are then discussed, with an emphasis on how they may assist in constraining the inflationary scalar potential. We then pivot to a general discussion of the FLRW-scalar phase space, and show how inflection points induce caustics — or dynamical fixed points — amongst the space of possible trajectories. These fixed points are then used to argue that for uninformative priors on the space of couplings, the likelihood of inflection point inflation scales with the inverse cube of the number of e-foldings. We point out the geometric origin for the known ambiguity in the Liouville measure, and demonstrate of inflection point inflation ameliorates this problem. Finally we investigate the effect of the fixed point structure on the spectrum of density perturbations. We show how an anomaly in the Cosmic Mircowave Background data — low power at large scales — can be explained as a by product of the fixed point dynamics

Magmatic d 18 O in 4400–3900 Ma detrital zircons: a record of the alteration and recycling of crust in the Early Archean. Earth Planet Sci Lett 235:663–681

Abstract Ion microprobe analyses of y 18 O in 4400-3900 Ma igneous zircons from the Jack Hills, Western Australia, provide a record of the oxygen isotope composition of magmas in the earliest Archean. We have employed a detailed analysis protocol aimed at correlating spatially related micro-volumes of zircon concordant in U/Pb age with y 18 O and internal zoning. Simultaneous analysis of 18 O and 16 O with dual Faraday cup detectors, combined with frequent standardization, has yielded data with improved accuracy and precision over prior studies, and resulted in a narrower range of what is interpreted as magmatic