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A Possible Tektite Strewn Field in the Argentinian Pampa
P. A. Bland,1*C. R. de Souza Filho,2A. J. T. Jull,3S. P. Kelley,4R. M. Hough,5N. A. Artemieva,6E. Pierazzo,7J. Coniglio,8L. Pinotti,8V. Evers,9A. T. Kearsley10
Impact glass associated with 11 elongate depressions in the Pampean
Plain of Argentina, north of the city of Río Cuarto,was
suggested to be proximal ejecta related to a highly obliqueimpact
event. We have identified about 400 additional elongatefeatures in the
area that indicate an aeolian, rather than animpact, origin. We have
also dated fragments of glass found atthe Río Cuarto
depressions; the age is similar to that of glassrecovered 800 kilometers to the southeast. This material may betektite glass from an
impact event around 0.48 million years ago,representing a new tektite
strewn field.
1 Planetary and Space Sciences Research
Institute, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK.
2 Instituto de Geociências, Universidade
Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, Brazil.
3 NSF-Arizona Accelerator Mass Spectrometry
Laboratory, University of Arizona, 1118 East Fourth Street, Tucson, AZ
85721, USA.
4 Department of Earth Sciences, The Open
University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK.
5 Earth and
Planetary Sciences, Western Australian Museum, Francis Street, Perth,
Western Australia 6000.
6 Institute for Dynamics of
Geospheres, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky Prospect 38/6,
Moscow, Russia 117939.
7 Planetary Science
Institute, Tucson, AZ 85705, USA.
8 Departamento de
Geología, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, 5800 Río Cuarto, Córdoba, Argentina.
9 Institute of Educational Technology, The Open
University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK.
10 Geology
(Biological and Molecular Sciences), Oxford Brookes University,
Headington, Oxford OX3 OBP, UK.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
p.a.bland{at}open.ac.uk
