| Title | Yucatán karst features and the size of Chicxulub crater |
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| Author | Conners, M; Hildebrand, A R; Pilkington, M; Ortiz-Aleman, C; Chavez, R E; Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J; Graniel-Castro, E; Camara-Zi, A; Vasquez, J; Halpenny, J F |
| Source | Geophysical Journal International vol. 127, 1996 p. F11-F14, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246x.1996.tb04066.x  Open Access |
| Year | 1996 |
| Alt Series | Geological Survey of Canada, Contribution Series 1996197 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf |
| Area | Yucatán Peninsula; Gulf of Mexico; Mexico |
| Lat/Long WENS | -90.6667 -87.0000 21.7500 19.7500 |
| Subjects | structural geology; geophysics; extraterrestrial geology; karst topography; sinkholes; gravity anomalies; geophysical surveys; bouguer anomalies; topography; craters; meteorite craters; faults; faults,
block; structural features; Chicxulub crater; Tertiary; Cretaceous |
| Illustrations | sketch maps |
| Released | 2007 04 03 |
| Abstract | (Summary)
The buried Chicxulub impact structure is marked by a dramatic ring of sinkholes (called cenotes if containing water), and adjacent less prominent partial rings, which have been shown
to coincide with maxima in horizontal gravity gradients and a topographic depression. These observations, along with the discreteness and spacing of the features, suggest a formation mechanism involving faulting in the outer slump zone of the crater,
which would thus have a diameter of approximately 180 km. An opposing view, based primarily on the interpretation of gravity data, is that (he crater is much larger than the cenote ring implies. Given the association of the known cenote ring with
faults, we here examine northern Yucatan for similar rings in gravity, surface features and elevation, which we might expect to be associated with outer concentric faults in the case of a larger, possibly multiring, structure. No such outer rings
have been found, although definite patterns are seen in the distribution of karst features outside the crater rim. We explain these patterns as resulting mainly from deformation related to the block fault zone that parallels tbe shelf edge of eastern
Yucatan. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 207826 |
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