The Boltysh impact structure: An early Danian impact event during recovery from the K-Pg mass extinction

Annemarie E. Pickersgill, Darren F. Mark, Martin R. Lee, Simon P. Kelley, David W. Jolley
2021 Science Advances  
Both the Chicxulub and Boltysh impact events are associated with the K-Pg boundary. While Chicxulub is firmly linked to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, the temporal relationship of the ~24-km-diameter Boltysh impact to these events is uncertain, although it is thought to have occurred 2 to 5 ka before the mass extinction. Here, we conduct the first direct geochronological comparison of Boltysh to the K-Pg boundary. Our 40Ar/39Ar age of 65.39 ± 0.14/0.16 Ma shows that the impact occurred
more » ... 5 Ma after the mass extinction. At that time, the climate was recovering from the effects of the Chicxulub impact and Deccan trap flood volcanism. This age shows that Boltysh has a close temporal association with the Lower C29n hyperthermal recorded by global sediment archives and in the Boltysh crater lake sediments. The temporal coincidence raises the possibility that even a small impact event could disrupt recovery of the Earth system from catastrophic events.
doi:10.1126/sciadv.abe6530 pmid:34144979 fatcat:wv5okxba6rbadmubwv7otabn2i