Table Of ContentImpact Studies
Series Editor: Christian Koeberl
Editorial Board
Eric Buffetaut (CNRS, Paris, France)
Iain Gilmour (Open University, Milton Keynes, UK)
Boris Ivanov (Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia)
Wolf Uwe Reimold (Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany)
Virgil L. Sharpton (University of Alaska, Fairbanks, USA)
Charles Cockell
Christian Koeberl
Iain Gilmour
(Editors)
Biological Processes
Associated with
Impact Events
With 102 Figures, 5 in colour
123
EDITORS
PROFESSOR CHARLES COCKELL
DR. IAIN GILMOUR
PLANETARY AND SPACE SCIENCES
RESEARCH INSTITUTE
OPEN UNIVERSITY
MILTON KEYNES
UNITED KINGDOM
Email: [email protected]
[email protected]
PROFESSOR CHRISTIAN KOEBERL
Department of Geological Sciences
University of Vienna
Althanstrasse 14
1090 Vienna
Austria
Email: [email protected]
ISSN 1612-8338
ISBN 10 3-540-25735-7 Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York
ISBN 13 978-3-540-25735-6 Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York
Library of Congress Control Number: 2006920520
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is
concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,
broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication
of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright
Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained
from Springer-Verlag. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law.
Springer is a partof Springer Science+Business Media
springeronline.com
(cid:148) Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006
Printed in Germany
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not
imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
Cover design: E. Kirchner, Heidelberg
Production: A. Oelschläger
Typesetting: Camera-ready by the Editors
Printing: Stürtz, Germany
Binding: Stürtz, Germany
Printed on acid-free paper 32/2132/AO 5 4 3 2 1 0
Preface
The biological effects of asteroid and comet impacts have been widely
viewed as primarily destructive. The role of an impactor in the K/T
boundary extinctions has had a particularly important influence on
thinking concerning the role of impacts in ecological and biological
changes.
During the 10th and final workshop of the ESF IMPACT program during
March 2003, we sought to investigate the wider aspects of the involvement
of impact events in biological processes, including the beneficial role of
these events from the prebiotic through to the ecosystem level.
The ESF IMPACT programme (1998-2003) was an interdisciplinary
effort that is aimed at understanding impact processes and their effects on
the Earth environment, including environmental, geological and biological
changes. The IMPACT programme has 15 member states and the activities
of the programme range from workshops to short courses on topics such as
impact stratigraphy, shock metamorphism, etc. The program has also
awarded mobility grants and been involved in the development of teaching
aids and numerous publications, including this one.
The 10th workshop was held at King’s College, Cambridge, from March
29 to April 1, 2003. The theme of the workshop ‘Biological Processes
associated with Impact Events’. Some of the questions that were addressed
during this workshop included: What beneficial effects can impact events
have for life? What are the environmental changes on the local level as
well as the global level? How does microbial life take advantage of impact
craters? What role do impact events have in the origins and evolution of
life? From prebiotic molecules to complex metazoans, the workshop took a
snapshot of the diversity of fields of biology and ecology that intersect
with impact studies. Within this milieu of discussions the workshop also
considered astrobiological aspects of cratering and their relevance for life
elsewhere, if it exists.
The diversity of papers presented in this volume attest to the fact that
impact cratering is very much a biologic process. It is not often that
biologists, ecologists, and astrobiologists rub shoulders with the impact
and planetary science communities, but the ESF IMPACT programme
achieved an important contribution to this discussion at this meeting.
The papers within this volume cover some important aspects of
biological processes. The potential for survival of organics at impact sites
is investigated. The survival of microbes during impact and their
VI Preface
subsequent colonization of impact rocks is examined. The biotic potential
of hydrothermal systems is addressed. Extinctions caused by impacts are
discussed at two extinction boundaries, while another paper compares
impact processes to the processes of ecological disturbance caused by
volcanoes. The effects of marine impacts on ecosystems are discussed and
in another chapter, the biotic consequences of post-impact wildfires are
described. A good balance is provided of local environmental effects of
impacts compared to global effects. In totality this volume provides a
useful view, but by no means a complete one, of impact cratering as a
biologic process. We hope that it will encourage further debate, discussion
and collaboration.
Charles Cockell Iain Gilmour Christian Koeberl
Open University Open University University of Vienna
Milton Keynes, UK Milton Keynes, UK Vienna, Austria
Acknowledgements
The editors are grateful to the ESF-IMPACT programme for making the
King’s College, Cambridge workshop and the preparation of this volume
possible. The workshop was partly funded by the NASA Astrobiology
Institute and we would like to express our gratitude for NASA’s generous
support.
We thank the following referees for their assistance: Philip Bland,
Madelaine Böhme, Eric Buffetaut, Phillipe Claeys, Rodolfo Coccioni,
Fabio Donadini, Henning Dypvik, Alan Fitzsimmons, Darlene Lim, Gerta
Keller, Simon Kelley, Wolfgang Kiessling, David King, Kalle Kirsimae,
Frank Kyte, Tõnu Meidla, Jared Morrow, Jens Ormo, John Parnell,
Victoria Pearson, Uwe Reimold, Jan Smit, Morten Smelror, Frances
Westall.
Contents
The Potential for Survival of Organic Matter in Fluid Inclusions at
Impact Sites
J. Parnell, M. Baron and H. Wycherley…….……………………………...1
Geomicrobiology of Impact-Altered Rocks
C.S. Cockell, D.A. Fike, G.R. Osinski and P. Lee……...….…………….21
Bacterial Spores Survive Simulated Meteorite Impact
G. Horneck……………………………………………………………….41
Impact-Generated Hydrothermal System – Constraints from the
Large Paleoproterozoic Sudbury Crater, Canada
D.E. Ames, I.R. Jonasson, H.L. Gibson and K.O. Pope………………....55
Comparison of Bosumtwi Impact Crater (Ghana) and Crater Lake
Volcanic Caldera (Oregon, USA): Implications for Biotic Recovery
after Catastrophic Events
M.R. Rampino and C. Koeberl………………………………………….101
Paleobiological Effects of the Late Cretaceous Wetumpka Marine
impact, a 7.6-km Diameter Impact Structure, Gulf Coastal Plain, USA
D.T. King, Jr., L.W. Petruny and T.L. Neathery…………………. ……121
The Sweet Aftermath: Environmental Changes and Biotic Restoration
Following the Marine Mjølnir Impact (Vogian-Ryazanian Boundary,
Barents Shelf)
M. Smelror and H. Dypvik…..………………..…………………… …..143
Guembelitria irregularis Bloom at the K-T Boundary: Morphological
Abnormalities Induced by Impact-related Extreme Environmental
Stress?
R. Coccioni and V. Luciani……………………………………………..179
Unravelling the Cretaceous-Paleogene (KT) Turnover, Evidence from
Flora, Fauna and Geology
A. Ocampo, V. Vajda and E. Buffetaut………………………........……197
viii Contents
Impact and Wildfires – An Analysis of the K-T Event
C.M. Belcher…………………………………………….……….……..221
Continental Vertebrate Extinctions at the Triassic-Jurassic and
Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundaries: a Comparison
E. Buffetaut…………………………………………….……………….245
Geochemical Search for Impact Signatures in Possible Impact-
generated Units Associated with the Jurassic-Cretaceous Boundary in
Southern England and Northern France
I. McDonald, G.J. Irvine, E. de Vos, A.S. Gale and W. U.
Reimold………………………………………………………………....257
New Evidence for Impact from the Suvasvesi South Structure, Central
East Finland
F. Donadini, J. Plado, S.C. Werner, J. Salminen, L.J. Pesonen and M.
Lehtinen....................................................................................................287
Kärdla Impact (Hiiumaa Island, Estonia) – Ejecta Blanket and
Environmental Disturbances
S. Suuroja and K. Suuroja………………………………………....……309
Sediments and Impact Rocks filling the Boltysh Impact Crater
E.P. Gurov, S.P. Kelley, C. Koeberl and N.I. Dykan…………………..335
Stones in the Sky: from the Main Belt to Earth-Crossing Orbits
D. Benest………………………………………………………………..359
List of Contributors
Doreen E. Ames
Natural Resources Canada
Geological Survey of Canada
601 Booth Street
Ottawa, ON, K1A 0E8
Canada
([email protected])
Martin Baron
Department of Geology and Petroleum Geology
University of Aberdeen
Aberdeen, AB24 3UE
U.K.
Clare M. Belcher
Department of Geology
Royal Holloway University of London
Egham
Surrey, TW20 0EX
U.K.
([email protected])
Daniel Benest
Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur
Observatoire de Nice
B.P. 4229
F-06304 Nice Cedex 4
France
([email protected])
Eric Buffetaut
CNRS
16 cour du Liégat
75013 Paris
France
([email protected])
x Contributors
Rodolfo Coccioni
Instituto di Geologia e Centro di Geobiologia dell’Università “Carlo Bo”
Campus Scientifico
Località Crocicchia
61029 Urbino
Italy
([email protected])
Charles Cockell
Open University
Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA
U.K.
([email protected])
Eveline de Vos
School of Earth, Ocean & Planetary Sciences
Cardiff University
P.O. Box 914
Cardiff, CF10 3YE
U.K.
Fabio Donadini
Division of Geophysics
University of Helsinki
PO Box 64
FIN-00014 Helsinki
Finland
([email protected])
Natalia I. Dykan
Institute of Geological Sciences,
National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine,
55–b Oles Gonchar Street,
Kiev 01054
Ukraine
