Petrological Characteristics of Suevite Varieties in the Kara Astrobleme, Pay-Khoy, Russia

摘要

The paper presents the first detailed mineralogical and petrographic information on the clastic components of three suevite varieties from the Kara astrobleme in the Pay-Khoy Ridge, Russian Arctic, including features of their morphology, inner structure, chemical and mineral phase composition of the suevite impact glasses. Data on the suevites are consistent with the earlier classification of the impactites. All of the suevite varieties contain indicator minerals of the impact process and show evidence of all principal stages of impact metamorphism and postimpact hydrothermal mineral-forming processes. Data acquired in the course of this study can be utilized to identify new and transitional types of suevites to more comprehensively characterize the Kara impactites and to build up a model for the origin of this unique geologic object and other astroblemes.