HR: 09:00h
AN: PP31C-05    [Abstracts]
TI: Evidence from an Ice Core of a Large Impact Circa 1443 A.D.
AU: * Abbott, D
EM: dallas@ldeo.columbia.edu
AF: Lamont-Doherty Earth Obs., 1000 Rt 9W, Palisades, NY 10964 United States
AU: Biscaye, P
PP31C-05 AF: Lamont-Doherty Earth Obs., 1000 Rt 9W, Palisades, NY 10964 United States
AU: Cole-Dai, J
PP31C-05 AF: S. Dakota State Univ., Box 2202, Shepard Hall, Brookings, SD 57007 United States
AU: Breger, D
PP31C-05 AF: Drexel Univ., 3141 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19104 United States
AB: Published data on melt water from the Siple Dome ice core show distinct anomalies at 1443.16 A.D. The Ca value is 111 ppb, over 9 times the next highest Ca value between 850-1760 A.D. The K value is 20 ppb, about 1.4 times the next highest K value. The Ca anomaly may be due to partial dissolution of CaCO₃ microfossils from the 24 km Mahuika bolide impact crater on the southern New Zealand shelf. Deep-sea samples of the Mahuika ejecta layer contain >98% carbonate microfossils. The Mahuika impact may have produced tsunami runups of 130 meters in Jervis Bay, Australia. The Australian megatsunami deposits date to 1450±50 A.D. We analyzed the melt water from 8 ice-core samples from the West Antarctic Siple Dome ice core that date from 1440-1448 A.D. The 1443 A.D. level contained a peak in K of 53 ppb as compared to a background of ~6-7 ppb. Ca was high at 26 ppb but this is not as pronounced as reported earlier. We extracted solid material from the melt water. Except for the 1443 A.D. horizon and one fractured grain at the 1442 A.D. level, most samples were barren except for typical dust. At the 1443 A.D. level, we found 5 carbonate microfossils (coccoliths?) from 5 to 20 microns across. Two were round and solid. One microfossil appeared either caught during mitosis or broken during deformation and elongation. Another carbonate microfossil was unbroken, but appeared deformed into a square. We found a Cu grain with a small amount of oxygen. It is most likely a grain of native copper with an oxidized surface. Deformed microfossils and native minerals are both characteristic of bolide impacts. We also found many microcrystalline magnetite cubes, with an average crystal size of 0.3 microns or less. The high magnetic susceptibility of impact ejacta layers is caused by microcrystalline magnetite. We found a grain of conchoidally fractured feldspar ~15 microns long. A semi-quantitive EDAX analysis found 21% Si, 55% O, 9% Al, 5% Na, 3% K, 2% Fe, and 1% Ca (atomic %), well within the range of K-feldspar compositions. Because Fe does not fit into the feldspar structure, its occurrence implies either that the Fe-bearing feldspar is a glass, or that the Fe is in microcracks within the grain. As ice is not Fe-rich, the former is more likely. Because conchoidal fracture is characteristic of glass, this suggests that the feldspar is a glass (maskelynite) derived from an impact onto continental crust. We also found Al Fe oxide, Ti Al oxide, and amphibole. A semi-quantitative EDAX analysis of the latter found 53% O, 20% Si, 5% Na, 4% Al, Mg, and Fe, 3% Ca, and 0.5% K (atomic %) with trace Ti, S and Cl, close to the composition of the alkali amphibole richterite, which forms in contact metamorphosed limestones (skarns). The Al Fe oxide is most likely hercynite, a spinel that forms in contact metamorphic aureoles in silica-poor environments. All mineral grains had distinct edges. We also found radiating, fibrous crystals of a Ca Na silicate. An EDAX analysis of the mineral found 59% O, 13% Ca, 8% Si, 3% Na, and 1% Mg (atomic %). The Ca Na silicate is most likely pectolite (NaCa₂Si₃O₈), which has radiating, fibrous crystals and forms in skarns. The presence of minerals characteristic of contact metamorphism is important as we have found abundant skarn facies minerals in the Mahuika ejecta layer within deep sea sediment. Thus, our data taken together are most consistent with an impact ejecta layer within the Siple Dome ice core that comes from the Mahuika impact event about 4044 kilometers away; providing a well-constrained date for the event around 1443 A.D.
DE: 1620 Climate dynamics (0429, 3309)
DE: 1863 Snow and ice (0736, 0738, 0776, 1827)
DE: 5420 Impact phenomena, cratering (6022, 8136)
DE: 6022 Impact phenomena (5420, 8136)
SC: Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology [PP]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005