Impact Cratering: Processes, Products and Effects

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Impact cratering is a fundamental and ubiquitous geological process in the Solar System. It is considered the most important surface process on the Moon, Mercury, asteroids, and over large parts of the more geologically active planets of Mars and Venus. We now know that meteorite impact events have also played an important role throughout Earth's history, shaping the geological landscape, affecting the evolution of life, and producing mineral and hydrocarbon deposits of major economic significance. This research program will further our understanding of meteorite impact events and their beneficial scientific and economic effects. This is particularly important for Canada, which draws such a huge amount of wealth from the mining within the Sudbury impact structure - the richest mining district in North America. The central guiding theme of the proposed research is "Meteorite Impacts - Processes, Products, and Effects". The long-term objectives of this research program are to test the hypotheses that meteorite impact craters can (A) negatively affecting pre-existing life; (B) produce substrates suitable for prebiotic chemistry; (C) generate new, unique habitats for life; and (D) generate mineral and hydrocarbon deposits. Addressing these hypotheses requires an understanding of the fundamental processes and products of impact events. Thus, the research proposed here will focus on advancing our understanding of four key overarching processes important for the formation of meteorite impact structures: 1) shock melting and metamorphism; 2) impact ejecta emplacement; 3) impact crater collapse; and 4) impact-generated hydrothermal alteration. This work focuses on comparative study of impact craters within different types of target rocks and in different states of preservation. This will enable the differentiation of local effects and features of specific craters from more general features of impact craters. Fieldwork forms the foundation for this research coupled with the investigation of samples with a series of cutting-edge analytical techniques, including my new CFI/ORF-funded Field-Emission Electron Microprobe - the first of its kind in Canada.