Chiemgau impact: contributions to the 76th Annual Meteoritical Society Meeting (2013)

The following contributions to the MetSoc Meeting, July 29 – August 2, Edmonton, Canada, may be downloaded here:

Michael A. Rappenglück, Frank Bauer, Michael Hiltl, Andreas Neumair, Kord Ernstson:

CALCIUM-ALUMINUM-RICH INCLUSIONS (CAIs) IN IRON SILICIDE (XIFENGITE, GUPEIITE, HAPKEITE) MATTER: EVIDENCE OF A COSMIC ORIGIN

Poster CAIs mini Click poster!

Click Abstract CAIs!

*********************************************************

Frank Bauer, Michael Hiltl, Michael A. Rappenglück, Andreas Neumair, Kord Ernstson:

Fe2Si (HAPKEITE) FROM THE SUBSOIL IN THE ALPINE FORLAND (SOUTHEAST GERMANY): IS IT ASSOCIATED WITH AN IMPACT?

Poster hapkeite mini  Click Poster!

Click Abstract hapkeite !

*******************************************************

Andreas Neumair, Kord Ernstson:

PECULIAR HOLOCENE SOIL LAYERS: EVIDENCE OF POSSIBLE DISTAL EJECTA DEPOSITS IN THE CHIEMGAU REGION, SOUTHEAST GERMANY

Poster distal ejecta png Click Poster!

Click Abstract distal ejecta !

******************************************************

Kord Ernstson, Werner Müller, Andreas Neumair:

THE PROPOSED NALBACH (SAARLAND, GERMANY) IMPACT SITE: IS IT A COMPANION TO THE CHIEMGAU (SOUTHEAST BAVARIA, GERMANY) IMPACT STREWN FIELD?

Poster Nalbach Chiemgau mini Click Poster!

Click Abstract Nalbach Chiemgau impact

****************************************************

Chiemgau impact: a new article on carbon allotropes from the meteorite crater strewn field

From biomass to glassy carbon and carbynes: evidence of possible meteorite impact shock coalification and carbonization

K. Ernstson, T. G. Shumilova, S. I. Isaenko, A. Neumair, M. A. Rappenglück

 

Shortly after the meeting, May 19-22, in Syktyvkar the 546 pages Proceedings volume has been published:

Modern problems of theoretical, experimental and applied mineralogy (Yushkin Memorial Seminar–2013): Proceedings of mineralogical seminar with international participation. Syktyvkar: IG Komi SC UB RAS, 2013. 546 p.

The above-mentioned contribution by Ernstson et al. addresses the many various carbon modifications (among them the chiemite probable impactite featuring highest pressures and temperatures) pointing to a shock coalification of the vegetation affected by the Chiemgau impact in southeast Germany. Shock coalification in this case is to be understood, different from the long-lasting geologic coal formation (organic matter > peat > lignite > hard coal > anthracite), as an immediate short-term conversion of organic matter (in particular wood, peat) to highest coalification levels spontaneously leading to glass-like carbon and chiemite by the extreme impact shock. The model is strongly supported by many finds such as diatoms and cyanobacteria in very dense, hard glass-like carbon and wood particles that are baked into the high-pressure/high-temperature chiemite.

The abstract article from the Proceedings volume can be clicked HERE. The respective POSTER may also be clicked and downloaded.

 

Chiemgau impact: presentation at the first European Mineralogical Conference 2-6 September 2012 – Frankfurt, Germany

Session Meteorites and Planets

Carbynes and DLC in naturally occurring carbon matter from the Alpine Foreland, South-East Germany: Evidence of a probable new impactite

S. Isaenko, T. Shumilova, K. Ernstson, S. Shevchuk, A. Neumair, and M. Rappenglück

ABSTRACT download EMC2012-217.

POSTER download EMC-PDF

diamond like carbon (DLC) in the impactite from the Chiemgau impact strewn field

From the poster: diamond-like carbon (DLC) in the probable impactite from the Chiemgau meteorite impact crater strewn field.

Chiemgau impact: presentation at the 34th International Geological Congress, 5-10 August 2012 – Brisbane, Australia

Every four years the International Union of Geosciences (IUGS) coordinates the International Geological Congress.

After a contribution at the 33th congress 2008 in Oslo the CIRT had now a presentation at the this year’s meeting in Brisbane, Australia:

A prehistoric meteorite impact in Southeast Bavaria (Germany): tracing its cultural implications

Barbara RAPPENGLUECK, Kord ERNSTSON, Ioannis LIRITZIS, Werner MAYER, Andreas NEUMAIR, Michael RAPPENGLUECK and Dirk SUDHAUS

Abstract. – A meteorite crater field in Southeast Germany, the Chiemgau region, comprises more than 80 craters scattered in an area of about 60 km x 30 km. The crater diameters range between a few meters and 600 m, forming one of the biggest known areas of Holocene meteorite craters. Continue reading “Chiemgau impact: presentation at the 34th International Geological Congress, 5-10 August 2012 – Brisbane, Australia”

Chiemgau impact: A new carbon impactite

Presentation: 43. Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC), March 19–23, 2012, The Woodlands, Texas, USA: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2012/programAbstracts/view/

Shumilova T. G.1   Isaenko S. I.1   Makeev B. A.1   Ernstson K.2   Neumair A.3 Rappenglück M. A.3: Enigmatic Poorly Structured Carbon Substances from the Alpine Foreland, Southeast Germany:  Evidence of a Cosmic Relation [Abstract #1430]

1Institute of Geology, Komi SC, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pervomayskaya st. 54, Syktyvkar, 167982 Russia, 2Faculty of Philosophy I, University of Würzburg, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany,  3Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, D-82205 Gilching, Germany.

Abstract download:

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2012/pdf/1430.pdf

Poster download:

Poster LPSC

The study deals with a so far unknown impactite from the Chiemgau meteorite crater strewn field incorporating a high pressure/high temperature carbon allotrop.

 

Chiemgau impact: two contributions to the AGU 2011 Fall Meeting, San Francisco

At the AGU (American Geophysical Union) Fall Meeting, December 5-9, two contributions focusing on special features of the Chiemgau meteorite impact strewn field have been presented:

Neumair, A. & Ernstson, K. (2011), Geomagnetic and morphological signature of small crateriform structures in the Alpine Foreland, Southeast Germany, Abstract GP11A-1023 presented at 2011 Fall Meeting, AGU, San Francisco, Calif., 5-9 Dec.

The poster may be clicked here: Poster Neumair & Ernstson

Ernstson, K. & Neumair, A. (2011), Geoelectric Complex Resistivity Measurements of Soil Liquefaction Features in Quaternary Sediments of the Alpine Foreland, Germany, Abstract NS23A-1555 presented at 2011 Fall Meeting, AGU, San Francisco, Calif., 5-9 Dec.

The poster may be clicked here:  Poster Ernstson & Neumair

Chiemgau impact: an article on the impact-induced soil liquefaction (rock liquefaction)

Article on the Thunderhole phenomenon in the Chiemgau impact area: 

The sinkhole enigma in the alpine foreland, Southeast Germany: Evidence of impact-induced rock liquefaction processes

Kord Ernstson, Werner Mayer, Andreas Neumair and Dirk Sudhaus

CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF GEOSCIENCES 

The article describes the very first geologic and geophysical investigations of the so-called Thunderhole (“Donnerloch“) phenomenon in the region of the small town of Kienberg north of Lake Chiemsee in Southeast Bavaria. The authors conclude that the innumerable enigmatic sudden sinkhole cave-ins having happened in living memory originate from late and even today acting processes of an earlier shock-induced underground rock liquefaction known from strong earthquake shocks. The geologically prominent underground structures that have now been uncovered are considered the result of impact shocks in the course of the formation of the Chiemgau meteorite crater strewn field (Chiemgau impact).

Some characteristic images of this highlighting rock liquefaction (or soil liquefaction) process can be seen on continuing

Continue reading “Chiemgau impact: an article on the impact-induced soil liquefaction (rock liquefaction)”

New article in Mediterranean Archaeology & Archaeometry – International Scientific Journal

THE CHIEMGAU METEORITE IMPACT AND TSUNAMI EVENT (SOUTHEAST GERMANY): FIRST OSL DATING

I. Liritzis, N. Zacharias, G.S. Polymeris, G. Kitis, K. Ernstson, D. Sudhaus, A. Neumair, W. Mayer, M.A. Rappenglück, B. Rappenglück

Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 17‐33

The full article may be clicked here:

PDF

The Chiemgau meteorite impact event – also in the Saarland (West Germany) region?

by CIRT – Chiemgau Impact Research Team
The abstracts for the 74th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society, August 8-12, in Greenwich, England, UK, have now been published in the Internet. With regard to the Holocene Chiemgau large meteorite strewn field three contributions are especially interesting because of their immediate relation to this impact event. The abstract pdfs can be downloaded:

[1] A POSSIBLE NEW IMPACT SITE NEAR NALBACH (SAARLAND, GERMANY)
E. Buchner, W. Müller and M. Schmieder
www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/metsoc2011/pdf/5048.pdf
[2] NALBACH (SAARLAND, GERMANY) AND WABAR (SAUDI ARABIA) GLASS – TWO OF A KIND?
M. Schmieder, W. Müller and E. Buchner
www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/metsoc2011/pdf/5059.pdf
[3] IMPACTITES AND RELATED LITHOLOGIES IN GERMANY – CURRENT STATE OF KNOWLEDGE
M. Schmieder, W. Müller, L. Förster and E. Buchner
www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/metsoc2011/pdf/5060.pdf

Among the authors W(erner) Müller is particularly singled out who has only recently performed meticulous field work near the town of Nalbach in the Saarland region near the French border. He sampled a large amount of peculiar rocks and natural glasses as well as suspected iron meteorites. From these finds he concludes the possible existence of a meteorite impact only in younger times, and as the discoverer of the phenomenon he has published an article in the Scribd scientific internet forum:

Prims: a possible Holocene meteorite impact in the Saarland region, West Germany
which may be clicked HERE

This postulated meteorite impact is shortly attended by the other authors in the above-mentioned abstracts where the original Scribd article is referred to only in abstract [2], but strangely not in abstract [1] obviously standing more to reason thematically.

Amazingly similar: Finds from the Saarland suspected impact and the Chiemgau impact.

The close relation to the Chiemgau impact arises from Werner Müller’s Scribd article and, hence, comprises the abstract articles of Buchner et al. and Schmieder et al. As can be read in the article of Müller and especially pointed out by him, many striking parallels to finds in the Chiemgau meteorite crater strewn field are obvious:

— pebbles and cobbles showing mechanical load and high-temperature signature in the form of glass coating and interspersing the in most cases sandstone samples
— polymictic breccias
— slag-like melt rocks
— glass as matrix of melt rocks with various rock fragments
— glass-like carbon
— spherules
— probably shock-induced spallation effects in melt rocks

The reader is encouraged to take a look at the images in Werner Müller’s Scribd article and to compare them with the Chiemgau samples. Images are to be found on the website https://www.chiemgau-impact.com/petrographie.html and in the Ernstson et al., 2010 article or, as originals, in the Grabenstätt impact museum

Although there is so far no definite age for the postulated Saarland impact, W. Müller, because of first-sight field impressions and considering the in most cases very fresh glasses, clearly favors a Holocene age. Hence, with regard to the Chiemgau impact Holocene age the obvious question arises whether the Chiemgau and Saarland impacts may belong to the very same cosmic event. This can be imagined given the cosmic projectile was already in disintegration when approaching Earth (like, e.g. in the 1994 Shoemaker-Levi-9 comet crash with Jupiter) and in the end leaving impact scars in an even much larger strewn field than hitherto assumed for the Chiemgau impact.

From this viewpoint of a relation of both phenomena it is rather remarkable if the CIRT research project on the Chiemgau meteorite impact achieves considerable support by two of the abstract authors (E. Buchner, M. Schmieder) as is well known confirmed opponents of the CIRT research and of the Chiemgau impact at all. Notably the hint of Buchner et al. [1] to a possible meteoritic airburst to have produced the Saarland impact signature raises attention because such a possibility has already been discussed for the Chiemgau impact event in the context of the formation of some peculiar craters there (e.g. Ernstson et al., 2010, S. 92-93).

A comment on the abstract article of Schmieder et al. [3] is being added. The authors refer to several structures in Germany for which a meteoritic origin has been postulated, “[cit.] however, all of these geologic features currently lack evidence for shock metamorphism and/or meteoritic matter as proof for impact”. Among these structures, the Chiemgau impact has been classified, thereby referring to the 30 pages article ‘Ernstson K. et al. 2010. J. Siberian Fed. Univ. Engin. Technol. 1:72–103 (HERE to be downloaded)‘ Either have Schmieder and Buchner never read this basic and comprehensive article about the Chiemgau impact or they calculatedly conceal that on p. 82-83 under the heading 8. Shock metamorphism generally accepted impact shock effects in rocks from the Chiemgau craters together with several photomicrographs are reported. The shock effects include multiple sets of planar deformation features (PDFs) with up to five sets in one quartz grain, and diaplectic glass requiring even higher shock pressures of formation than do PDFs.

This keeping silence about proofs for the Chiemgau impact and at the same time claiming the Chiemgau impact is not confirmed [3], is rather odd with regard to the fact that comparably unambiguous impact proofs for the Saarland phenomenon could so far not be presented [1].

Owing to the promising similarities between Chiemgau impact material and material from the Saarland area we can but encourage the colleagues to perform continuing research. We are glad to see that the research of Buchner and Schmieder on the Saarland impact contributes to a better understanding of the Chiemgau impact, even though their work features some deficits and oddness.

 

Gupeiite, xifengite, Fe2Si ? hapkeite: Strange iron silicide matter from the Chiemgau meteorite impact

The strange iron silicide matter from the Chiemgau meteorite impact strewn field at the 42nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC), March 7-11, 2011, The Woodlands, Texas, USA:

iron silicides xifengite gupeiite hapkeite ? moissanite micro-craters chiemgau impact
SEM and TEM analyses of minerals xifengite, gupeiite, Fe2Si (hapkeite ?), titanium carbide (TiC) and cubic moissanite (SiC) from the subsoil in the Alpine Foreland: Are they cosmochemical?

M. Hiltl1, F. Bauer2, K. Ernstson3, W. Mayer4, A. Neumair4, and M.A. Rappenglück4
1Carl Zeiss Nano Technology Systems GmbH, Oberkochen, Germany, 2Oxford Instruments GmbH NanoScience, Wiesbaden, Germany, 3University of Würzburg, Germany, 4Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, Gilching, Germany

Abstract: Click here..

Click here the enlarged images > Continue reading “Gupeiite, xifengite, Fe2Si ? hapkeite: Strange iron silicide matter from the Chiemgau meteorite impact”