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Science 21 June 1991:
Vol. 252. no. 5013, pp. 1690 - 1693
DOI: 10.1126/science.252.5013.1690
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Articles

Impacts, Tsunamis, and the Haitian Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary Layer

FLORENTIN J-M. R. MAURRASSE 1 and GAUTAM SEN 1

1 Department of Geology, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199

The marker bed at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary of the Beloc Formation (southern Haiti) contains abundant coarse-grained microtektites and minor amounts of shocked quartz grains in the basal part. The upper part is composed of medium-grained marl with amalgamated microtektite lenses and finer-grained marl lenses disseminated throughout. Field and petrographic observations, and the distribution of planktonic foraminifera suggest that the bed formed from a complex sequence of events. A bolide impact nearby produced microtektites that sett1led to form a nearly pure layer at the base. Vaporized materials with anomalously high extraterrestrial components settled last, along with carbonate sediments. The entire bed became sparsely consolidated. Subsequently, another major disruptive event, perhaps a giant tsunami, partly reworked the initial deposit. Cohesive fragments of the original marker bed mixed with exotic materials were redeposited as lenticular bodies. This process also may have caused further mixing of Cretaceous and Tertiary microfossils, as observed at Beloc and elsewhere.

Submitted on January 8, 1991
Accepted on March 28, 1991


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