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1.
Abstract The Yaxcopoil‐1 (Yax‐1) drill hole comprises Cretaceous limestones and calcarenites, the K/P boundary cocktail unit (including impact breccia), and a Danian marly clay layer overlain by calcareous marls. The biostratigraphy, paleobathymetry, and environmental turnover across the K/P interval were inferred after analyzing the planktic and benthic foraminiferal assemblages. The Cretaceous samples only contain a few poorly preserved planktic foraminifera of a middle Campanian to Maastrichtian age, while low‐diversity benthic foraminiferal assemblages suggest a sufficient nutrient supply to the sea floor and a shallow neritic, occasionally stressed environment. The impact breccia and the redeposited suevite are overlain by a 46 cm‐thick dolomitic calcareous sandstone unit that contains scarce, reworked planktic foraminiferal specimens. This unit probably represents the uppermost part of the initial infill of the crater. The uppermost centimeters of this unit are bioturbated, and its top represents a hiatus that spans at least the G. cretacea, Pv. eugubina, and part of the P. pseudobulloides biozones. This unit is overlain by a 3–4 cm‐thick marly clay layer that represents a condensed layer. Benthic foraminiferal assemblages suggest a low food supply to the sea floor and environmental instability during the deposition of the marly clay layer. The increase in diversity of the assemblages indicates that the environmental conditions improved and stabilized from the G. compressa biozone toward the A. uncinata (P2) biozone. The Danian planktic and benthic foraminiferal assemblages indicate a deeper, probably bathyal environment.  相似文献   

2.
Abstract– The Chicxulub structure in Mexico, one of the largest impact structures on Earth, was formed 65 Ma by a hypervelocity impact that led to the large mass extinction at the K‐Pg boundary. The Chicxulub impact structure is well preserved, but is buried beneath a sequence of carbonate sediments and, thus, requires drilling to obtain subsurface information. The Chicxulub Scientific Drilling Program was carried out at Hacienda Yaxcopoil in the framework of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program in 2001–2002. The structure was cored from 404 m down to 1511 m, through three intervals: 794 m of postimpact Tertiary sediments, a 100 m thick impactite sequence, and 616 m of preimpact Cretaceous rocks thought to represent a suite of megablocks. Physical property investigations show that the various lithologies, including the impactite units and the K‐Pg boundary layer, can be characterized by their physical properties, which depend on either changes in fabric or on mineralogical variations. The magnetic properties show mostly dia‐ or paramagnetic behavior, with the exception of the impactite units that indicate the presence of ferromagnetic, probably hydrothermally deposited magnetite and pyrrhotite. The magnetic fraction contributes mainly to enhanced magnetization in the impactite lithologies and, in this way, to the observed magnetic anomalies. The shape and orientation of the magnetic grains are varied and reflect inhomogeneous fabric development and the influence of impact‐related redeposition and hydrothermal activity. The Chicxulub impact occurred at the time of the reverse polarity geomagnetic chron 29R, and this finding is consistent with the age of the K‐Pg boundary.  相似文献   

3.
Abstract— The 65 Ma Chicxulub impact structure, Mexico, with a diameter of ～180 km is the focus of geoscientific research because of its link to the mass extinction event at the Cretaceous‐Tertiary (K/T) boundary. Chicxulub, now buried beneath thick post‐impact sediments, is probably one of the best‐preserved terrestrial impact structures known. Because of its inaccessibility, only limited samples on the impact lithologies from a few drill cores are available. We report major element and Sr‐, Nd‐, O‐, and C‐isotopic data for Chicxulub impact‐melt lithologies and basement clasts in impact breccias of drill cores C‐1 and Y‐6, and for melt particles in the Chicxulub ejecta horizon at the K/T boundary in Beloc, Haiti. The melt lithologies with SiO2 ranging from 58 to ～63 wt% show significant variations in the content of Al, Ca, and the alkalies. In the melt matrix samples, δ13C of the calcite is about ?3%o. The δ18O values for the siliceous melt matrices of Y‐6 samples range from 9.9 to 12.4%o. Melt lithologies and the black Haitian glass have rather uniform 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.7079 to 0.7094); only one lithic fragment displays 87Sr/86Sr of 0.7141. The Sr model ages TSrUR for most lithologies range from 830 to 1833 Ma; unrealistic negative model ages point to an open Rb‐Sr system with loss of Rb in a hydrothermal process. The 143Nd/144Nd ratios for all samples, except one basement clast with 143Nd/144Nd of 0.5121, cluster at 0.5123 to 0.5124. In an ?Nd‐?Sr diagram, impactites plot in a field delimited by ?Nd of ?2 to ?6, and ?Sr of 55 to 69. This field is not defined by the basement lithologies described to occur as lithic clasts in impact breccias and Cretaceous sediments. At least one additional intermediate to mafic precursor component is required to explain the data.  相似文献   

4.
Abstract— This study presents results of platinum group element (PGE) analyses of impactites from the Yaxcopoil‐1 (Yax‐1) and Yucatán 6 drill cores of the 180 km‐diameter Chicxulub crater. These are the main elements used for projectile identification. They were determined by nickel sulfide fire assay combined with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The concentration of PGE in the samples are low. The concentration patterns of the suevite samples resemble the pattern of the continental crust. We conclude that any meteoritic fraction in these samples is below 0.05%. A syn‐ and post‐impact modification of the PGE pattern from meteoritic toward a continental crust pattern is very unlikely. The globally distributed fallout at the Cretaceous‐Tertiary (K/T) boundary, however, has high PGE concentrations. Therefore, the lack of a significant meteoritic PGE signature in the crater is not an argument for a PGE‐poor impactor. Taking the results of three‐dimensional numerical simulations of the Chicxulub event into account, the following conclusions are drawn: 1) The main fraction of the impactor was ejected into and beyond the stratosphere, distributed globally, and deposited in the K/T boundary clay; and 2) the low amount of projectile contamination in the Yax‐1 lithologies may reflect an oblique impact. However, the role of volatiles in the mixing process between projectile and target is not well‐understood and may also have played a fundamental role.  相似文献   

5.
Abstract— Four exposures of Chicxulub impact ejecta along the Mexico‐Belize border have been sampled and analyzed for major and trace element abundances. The ejecta deposits consist of a lower spheroid bed, containing clay and dolomite spheroids, and an upper diamictite bed with boulders and clasts of limestone and dolomite. The matrix of both beds is composed of clay and micritic dolomite. The rare earth element (REE) compositions in the matrix of both units show strong similarities in concentrations and pattern. Furthermore, the Zr/TiO2 scatter plot shows a linear correlation indicating one source. These results indicate that the basal spheroid bed has the same source and was generated during the same event as the overlying diamictite bed, which lends support to a single‐impact scenario for the Albion Formation ejecta deposits. The elevated concentrations of non‐meteoritic elements such as Sb, As, U, and Zn in the matrix of the lower spheroid bed are regarded to have been derived from the sedimentary target rocks at the Chicxulub impact site. The positive Eu and Ce anomalies in clay concretion and in the matrix of the lower part of the spheroid bed in Albion Island quarry is probably related to processes involved in the impact, such as high temperature and oxidizing conditions. Analogous trace element anomalies have been reported from the distal Cretaceous‐Paleogene (K/T) boundary clay layer at different sites. Thus, the trace element signals, reported herein, are regarded to support a genetic link between the Chicxulub impact, the ejecta deposits along the Mexico‐Belize border, and the global K/T boundary layer.  相似文献   

6.
Abstract— The impact breccias encountered in drill hole Yaxcopoil‐1 (Yax‐1) in the Chicxulub impact structure have been subdivided into six units. The two uppermost units are redeposited suevite and suevite, and together are only 28 m thick. The two units below are interpreted as a ground surge deposit similar to a pyroclastic flow in a volcanic regime with a fine‐grained top (unit 3; 23 m thick; nuée ardente) and a coarse breccia (unit 4; ～15 m thick) below. As such, they consist of a mélange of clastic matrix breccia and melt breccia. The pyroclastic ground surge deposit and the two units 5 and 6 below are related to the ejecta curtain. Unit 5 (～24 m thick) is a silicate impact melt breccia, whereas unit 6 (10 m thick) is largely a carbonate melt breccia with some clastic‐matrix components. Unit 5 and 6 reflect an overturning of the target stratigraphy. The suevites of units 1 and 2 were deposited after emplacement of the ejecta curtain debris. Reaction of the super‐heated breccias with seawater led to explosive activity similar to phreomagmatic steam explosion in volcanic regimes. This activity caused further brecciation of melt and melt fragments. The fallback suevite deposit of units 1 and 2 is much thinner than suevite deposits at larger distances from the center of the impact structure than the 60 km of the Yax‐1 drill site. This is evidence that the fallback suevite deposit (units 1 and 2) originally was much thicker. Unit 1 exhibits sedimentological features suggestive of suevite redeposition. Erosion possibly has occurred right after the K/T impact due to seawater backsurge, but erosion processes spanning thousands of years may also have been active. Therefore, the top of the 100 m thick impactite sequence at Yaxcopoil, in our opinion, is not the K/T boundary.  相似文献   

7.
Abstract— The possibility of ocean water invasion into the Chicxulub crater following the impact at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary was investigated based on examination of an impactite between approximately 794.63 and 894.94 m in the Yaxcopoil‐1 (Yax‐1) core. The presence of cross lamination in the uppermost part of the impactite suggests the influence of an ocean current at least during the sedimentation of this interval. Abundant occurrence of nannofossils of late Campanian to early Maastrichtian age in the matrices of samples from the upper part of the impactite suggests that the carbonate sediments deposited on the inner rim margin and outside the crater were eroded and transported into the crater most likely by ocean water that invaded the crater after its formation. The maximum grain size of limestone lithics and vesicular melt fragments, and grain and bulk chemical compositions show a cyclic variation in the upper part of the impactite. The upward fining grain size and the absence of erosional contact at the base of each cycle suggest that the sediments were derived from resuspension of units elsewhere in the crater, most likely by high energy currents association with ocean water invasion.  相似文献   

8.
Abstract The possibility of ocean water invasion into the Chicxulub crater following the impact at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary was investigated based on examination of an impactite between approximately 794.63 and 894.94 m in the Yaxcopoil‐1 (Yax‐1) core. The presence of cross lamination in the uppermost part of the impactite suggests the influence of an ocean current at least during the sedimentation of this interval. Abundant occurrence of nannofossils of late Campanian to early Maastrichtian age in the matrices of samples from the upper part of the impactite suggests that the carbonate sediments deposited on the inner rim margin and outside the crater were eroded and transported into the crater most likely by ocean water that invaded the crater after its formation. The maximum grain size of limestone lithics and vesicular melt fragments, and grain and bulk chemical compositions show a cyclic variation in the upper part of the impactite. The upward fining grain size and the absence of erosional contact at the base of each cycle suggest that the sediments were derived from resuspension of units elsewhere in the crater, most likely by high energy currents association with ocean water invasion.  相似文献   

9.
It is proposed that genes coding for Aib-polypeptides arose early on in the K/T transition, presumed from the Earth's accretion of interplanetary (comet) dust. Aib-fungi flourished because of the evolutionary advantage of novel antibiotics. The stress on Cretaceous biology led directly and indirectly to mass species extinctions, including many dinosaur species, in the epoch preceding the Chicxulub impact. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.  相似文献   

10.
Abstract— Seismic reflection data and an at least 350 m thick, PGE‐rich carbonate breccia lens intersected by the Fohn‐1 exploration well in the Timor Sea off northern Australia, are interpreted in terms of a buried 4.8 km‐diameter impact crater of late Eocene to pre‐Miocene age. The crater displays the classic elements of impact structures, including a central uplift, ring syncline, and upraised rims. The presence in the breccia of redeposited Campanian and Maastrichtian microfossils suggests rebound of strata from levels deeper than 1250 m below the pre‐Miocene unconformity. Morphometric modelling suggests an original crater at least 1400 m deep, which is consistent with the excavation of Cretaceous strata. Stratigraphic and palaeontological evidence suggests that the impact occurred between 36 and 24.6 Ma. The breccia contains a pseudotachylite component enriched in the inert Pt group elements (PGE) (Ir, Ru) by factors of 5–12 above the values of common sediments. The more mobile PGE (Os, Pt, Pd) show a wide scatter and terrestrial‐type values. Opposite geochemical/stratigraphic trends pertain to different PGE species—the relatively inert Ir‐Ru group shows an overall concentration at the base of the section, whereas the more mobile Os shows peaks at median levels of the section—suggesting upward diagenetic leaching. The near‐chondritic PGE patterns at the base of the breccia pile are accompanied by near‐chondritic Ni/Cr, Co/Cr, Ni/Ir, Ni/Pt, and Cu/Pd ratios. Departure from these values related to alteration at higher levels in the breccia pile is accompanied with high S levels (～1%).  相似文献   

11.
The Chicxulub impact crater in northwestern Yucatan, Mexico is the primary candidate for the proposed impact that caused mass extinctions at the end of the Cretaceous Period. The crater is buried by up to a kilometer of Tertiary sediment and the most prominent surface expression is a ring of sink holes, known locally as cenotes, mapped with Landsat imagery. This 165 ± 5 km diameter Cenote Ring demarcates a boundary between unfractured limestones inside the ring, and fractured limestones outside. The boundary forms a barrier to lateral ground water migration, resulting in increased flows, dissolution, and collapse thus forming the cenotes. The subsurface geology indicates that the fracturing that created the Cenote Ring is related to slumping in the rim of the buried crater, differential thicknesses in the rocks overlying the crater, or solution collapse within porous impact deposits. The Cenote Ring provides the most accurate position of the Chicxulub crater's center, and the associated faults, fractures, and stratigraphy indicate that the crater may be 240 km in diameter.  相似文献   

12.
The Rochechourt impact structure in south‐central France, with maximum diameter of 40–50 km, has previously been dated to within 1% uncertainty of the Triassic–Jurassic boundary, at which time ~30% of global genera became extinct. To evaluate the temporal relationship between the impact and the Triassic–Jurassic boundary at high precision, we have re‐examined the structure's age using multicollector ARGUS‐V 40Ar/39Ar mass spectrometry. Results from four aliquots of impact melt are highly reproducible, and yield an age of 206.92 ± 0.20/0.32 Ma (2σ, full analytical/external uncertainties). Thus, the Rochechouart impact structure predates the Triassic–Jurassic boundary by 5.6 ± 0.4 Ma and so is not temporally linked to the mass extinction. Rochechouart has formerly been proposed to be part of a multiple impact event, but when compared with new ages from the other purported “paired” structures, the results provide no evidence for synchronous impacts in the Late Triassic. The widespread Central Atlantic Magmatic Province flood basalts remain the most likely cause of the Triassic–Jurassic mass extinction.  相似文献   

13.
Abstract— In earlier studies, the 65‐75 km diameter Siljan impact structure in Sweden has been linked to the Late Devonian mass extinction event. The Siljan impact event has previously been dated by K‐Ar and Ar‐Ar chronology at 342‐368 Ma, with the commonly quoted age being 362.7 ± 2.2 Ma (2 s?, recalculated using currently accepted decay constants). Until recently, the accepted age for the Frasnian/Famennian boundary and associated extinction event was 364 Ma, which is within error limits of this earlier Siljan age. Here we report new Ar‐Ar ages extracted by laser spot and laser step heating techniques for several melt breccia samples from Siljan (interpreted to be impact melt breccia). The analytical results show some scatter, which is greater in samples with more extensive alteration; these samples generally yield younger ages. The two samples with the least alteration yield the most reproducible weighted mean ages: one yielded a laser spot age of 377.2 ± 2.5 Ma (95% confidence limits) and the other yielded both a laser spot age of 376.1 ± 2.8 Ma (95% confidence limits) and a laser stepped heating plateau age over 70.6% 39Ar release of 377.5 ± 2.4 Ma (2 s?). Our conservative estimate for the age of Siljan is 377 ± 2 Ma (95% confidence limits), which is significantly different from both the previously accepted age for the Frasnian/Famennian (F/F) boundary and the previously quoted age of Siljan. However, the age of the F/F boundary has recently been revised to 374.5 ± 2.6 Ma by the International Commission for Stratigraphy, which is, within error, the same as our new age. However, the currently available age data are not proof that there was a connection between the Siljan impact event and the F/F boundary extinction. This new result highlights the dual problems of dating meteorite impacts where fine‐grained melt rocks are often all that can be isotopically dated, and constraining the absolute age of biostratigraphic boundaries, which can only be constrained by age extrapolation. Further work is required to develop and improve the terrestrial impact age record and test whether or not the terrestrial impact flux increased significantly at certain times, perhaps resulting in major extinction events in Earth's biostratigraphic record.  相似文献   

14.
Abstract— The Chixculub impact occurred at the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) boundary, and although several other Late Cretaceous and Paleogene impact craters have, at times, been linked with the K/T boundary, isotope geochronology has demonstrated that all have significantly different ages. The currently accepted age of the 24 km diameter Boltysh crater, a K‐Ar whole‐rock age, places it in the Coniacian at 88 ± 3 Ma. However, comprehensive Ar‐Ar dating of a range of melt samples yields a mean age of 65.17 ± 0.64 Ma, within errors of the K/T boundary. Several of the fresh samples exhibit signs of excess argon but this seems to be concentrated in rapidly crystallized glass‐rich samples. The Ar‐Ar age confirms an earlier fission track measurement and thus two dating techniques have yielded an age within errors of the K/T boundary for this crater. Crucially, although the ages of Boltysh and Chixculub are within errors, they may not have formed synchronously. Craters of 24 km diameter occur much more commonly than impacts of Chixculub dimensions, but their proximity does raise the important question of how many impacts there might have been close to the K/T boundary.  相似文献   

15.
Abstract— We determined the iron oxidation state and coordination number in five samples of yellow impact glass from the Cretaceous‐Tertiary (K/T) boundary section at Beloc, Haiti, which formed as the result of impact melting during the Chicxulub impact event. The samples were analyzed by Fe K‐edge XANES spectroscopy and the results were compared with published data on eight black impact glasses and one high Si‐K impact spherule from the same impact layer. The pre‐edge peak of our high‐resolution XANES spectra displays evident variations indicative of significant changes in the Fe oxidation state, spanning a wide range from about 75 to 100 mole% Fe3+. Yellow K/T glasses have significantly higher Fe3+/(Fe2+ + Fe3+) ratios compared to black K/T impact glasses (from 20 to 75 mole% Fe3+) and high Si‐K glass (20 mole% Fe3+). In particular, all the pre‐edge peak data on these three types of impact glasses plot between two mixing lines joining a point calculated as the mean of a group of tektites studied so far (consisting of [4]Fe2+ and [5]Fe2+) to [4]Fe3+ and [5]Fe3+, respectively. Thus, the XANES spectra of the yellow K/T glasses can be interpreted as a mixture of [4]Fe2+, [5]Fe2+, [4]Fe3+, and [5]Fe3+. Our observations can be explained by a very large range of oxygen fugacity conditions during melt formation. Furthermore, there is a clear positive relationship between the Fe3+/(Fe2+ + Fe3+) ratio and the Ca content of these glasses, suggesting that the Fe oxidation state was influenced by the relative contribution of Ca‐sulfate‐ and Ca‐carbonate‐bearing sedimentary rocks at the impact site.  相似文献   

16.
Drill core UNAM‐7, obtained 126 km from the center of the Chicxulub impact structure, outside the crater rim, contains a sequence of 126.2 m suevitic, silicate melt‐rich breccia on top of a silicate melt‐poor breccia with anhydrite megablocks. Total reflection X‐ray fluorescence analysis of altered silicate melt particles of the suevitic breccia shows high concentrations of Br, Sr, Cl, and Cu, which may indicate hydrothermal reaction with sea water. Scanning electron microscopy and energy‐dispersive spectrometry reveal recrystallization of silicate components during annealing by superheated impact melt. At anhydrite clasts, recrystallization is represented by a sequence of comparatively large columnar, euhedral to subhedral anhydrite grains and smaller, polygonal to interlobate grains that progressively annealed deformation features. The presence of voids in anhydrite grains indicates SOx gas release during anhydrite decomposition. The silicate melt‐poor breccia contains carbonate and sulfate particles cemented in a microcrystalline matrix. The matrix is dominated by anhydrite, dolomite, and calcite, with minor celestine and feldspars. Calcite‐dominated inclusions in silicate melt with flow textures between recrystallized anhydrite and silicate melt suggest a former liquid state of these components. Vesicular and spherulitic calcite particles may indicate quenching of carbonate melts in the atmosphere at high cooling rates, and partial decomposition during decompression at postshock conditions. Dolomite particles with a recrystallization sequence of interlobate, polygonal, subhedral to euhedral microstructures may have been formed at a low cooling rate. We conclude that UNAM‐7 provides evidence for solid‐state recrystallization or melting and dissociation of sulfates during the Chicxulub impact event. The lack of anhydrite in the K‐Pg ejecta deposits and rare presence of anhydrite in crater suevites may indicate that sulfates were completely dissociated at high temperature (T > 1465 °C)—whereas ejecta deposited near the outer crater rim experienced postshock conditions that were less effective at dissociation.  相似文献   

17.
Abstract— We measured 852 sets of planar deformation features (PDFs) in shocked quartz grains in impactite samples of the Yaxcopoil (YAX‐1) core and from 4 Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) boundary deposits: the Monaca, the Cacarajícara, and the Peñalver formations in Cuba, and DSDP site 536, within 800 km of the Chicxulub crater, in order to investigate variations of PDF orientations in the proximity of the crater. Orientations of PDFs show a broad distribution with peaks at ω {101¯3}, π {101¯2}, and ω {111¯2}, plus r, z {1011¯} orientations with minor c(0001), s{112¯1}, t{224¯1} plus x{516¯1}, and m{101¯0} plus a{112¯0} orientations. Planar deformation features with c(0001) orientation are relatively more abundant in the proximity of the Chicxulub crater than in distal sites such as North America, the Pacific Ocean, and Europe. This feature indicates that in the proximity of the crater, part of the shocked quartz grains in the K/T boundary deposits were derived from the low shock pressure zones. Moreover, the orientations of PDFs with ω {112¯2} plus r, z {101¯1} are high in our studied sites, and frequencies of these orientations decrease with increasing distance from the crater. On the other hand, absence of c(0001) and the rare occurrence of PDFs with ?ω {112¯2} plus r, z {101¯1} orientations in the sample from the YAX‐1 core that was taken at the top of the impactite layer of the Chicxulub crater suggests that the sampling horizon that reflects a certain cratering stage is also an important factor for variations in shocked quartz.  相似文献   

18.
Fluid inclusions studies in quartz and calcite in samples from the ICDP‐Chicxulub drill core Yaxcopoil‐1 (Yax‐1) have revealed compelling evidence for impact‐induced hydrothermal alteration. Fluid circulation through the melt breccia and the underlying sedimentary rocks was not homogeneous in time and space. The formation of euhedral quartz crystals in vugs hosted by Cretaceous limestones is related to the migration of hot (>200 °C), highly saline, metal‐rich, hydrocarbon‐bearing brines. Hydrocarbons present in some inclusions in quartz are assumed to derive from cracking of pre‐impact organic matter. The center of the crater is assumed to be the source of the hot quartz‐forming brines. Fluid inclusions in abundant newly‐formed calcite indicate lower cyrstallization temperatures (75–100 °C). Calcite crystallization is likely related to a later stage of hydrothermal alteration. Calcite precipitated from saline fluids, most probably from formation water. Carbon and oxygen isotope compositions and REE distributions in calcites and carbonate host rocks suggest that the calcite‐forming fluids have achieved close equilibrium conditions with the Cretaceous limestones. The precipitation of calcite may be related to the convection of local pore fluids, possibly triggered by impact‐induced conductive heating of the sediments.  相似文献   

19.
The reasons for the mass extinctions, which occur from time to time in Earth's history-as, e.g., the dinosaur extinction at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary 65 myr ago - are still not satisfactorily cleared up. A possible reason might be the impact of one or several comets of several kilometers in diameter. In this paper the astrophysical background of this hypothesis and organic-chemical processes during an impact will be discussed.Quantitative estimations are given, which show that the amount of organic substances brought to the Earth may be of the same order of magnitude as the normal biological production of organic material.Investigations are proposed to examine the organic-chemical composition of profiles of the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary and other boundaries, at which mass extinction had occurred, in order to find anomalies as consequences of impacts.  相似文献   

20.
Abstract— Bottke et al. (2007) suggested that the breakup of the Baptistina asteroid family (BAF) 160+30/‐20 Myr ago produced an “asteroid shower” that increased by a factor of 2–3 the impact flux of kilometer‐sized and larger asteroids striking the Earth over the last ?120 Myr. This result led them to propose that the impactor that produced the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) mass extinction event 65 Myr ago also may have come from the BAF. This putative link was based both on collisional/dynamical modeling work and on physical evidence. For the latter, the available broadband color and spectroscopic data on BAF members indicate many are likely to be dark, low albedo asteroids. This is consistent with the carbonaceous chondrite‐like nature of a 65 Myr old fossil meteorite (Kyte 1998) and with chromium from K/T boundary sediments with an isotopic signature similar to that from CM2 carbonaceous chondrites. To test elements of this scenario, we obtained near‐IR and thermal IR spectroscopic data of asteroid 298 Baptistina using the NASA IRTF in order to determine surface mineralogy and estimate its albedo. We found that the asteroid has moderately strong absorption features due to the presence of olivine and pyroxene, and a moderately high albedo (?20%). These combined properties strongly suggest that the asteroid is more like an S‐type rather than Xc‐type (Mothé‐Diniz et al. 2005). This weakens the case for 298 Baptistina being a CM2 carbonaceous chondrite and its link to the K/T impactor. We also observed several bright (V Mag. ≤16.8) BAF members to determine their composition.  相似文献   

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