Bedout: An End-Permian Impact Site Off-Shore Northwestern Australia

0341972贝克尔二叠纪末灾难性大灭绝的原因一直是争论的焦点。PI和其他人提出的证据表明，一次重大的外星撞击可能引发了一系列事件，导致90%的海洋生物被摧毁。关于二叠纪末大规模撞击的存在和可能影响的争论，与在尤卡坦半岛外的希克苏鲁布撞击地点被识别、确认和认可之前，与白垩纪-第三纪（K/T）撞击有关的争论非常相似。随着希克苏鲁布火山口的发现，人们对K/T撞击的接受程度急剧提高。PI认为，他们有初步证据表明，从Bedout High（位于澳大利亚西北部近海的一个大型亚圆形结构）采集的岩心实际上是一个撞击角砾岩，因为它含有冲击矿物质、玻璃和地球化学特征，与典型的陆地火山作用不同。岩芯物质的初步年龄为~253 Ma。此外，其他地球化学和岩石学证据在成因上将Bedout构造中发现的角砾岩与世界各地的其他二叠纪末撞击矿床联系起来。该奖项将支持在澳大利亚举办一个研讨会，提供一个国际论坛，介绍有关近海Bedout结构的现有地质和地球物理数据及其核心的地球化学和岩石学特征，并讨论可能需要进行的合作研究，以确认这一可能的二叠纪末火山口结构的性质和特征。该研讨会将涉及澳大利亚和美国的科学家和学生，以及其他熟悉并能够批判性地评估现有数据的人。该讲习班将为一个贝脱工作组提供框架，该工作组的目的是发起、促进和协调对贝脱结构及其与二叠纪末大规模灭绝事件的可能关系的多学科国际研究。

0341972BeckerThe cause of the catastrophic mass extinction at the end of the Permian has been the focus of considerable debate. The PIs and others have presented evidence that a major extraterrestrial impact likely triggered a sequence of events leading to the destruction of 90% of marine taxa. The debate regarding the existence and possible effect of a large end-Permian impact strongly resembles the debate associated with the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K/T) impact prior to the identification, confirmation, and recognition of the Chicxulub impact site off the Yucatan Peninsula. Acceptance of a K/T impact increased dramatically with the discovery of the Chicxulub crater.The PIs believe they have preliminary evidence that core taken from the Bedout High, a large subcircular structure located offshore northwestern Australia is, in fact, an impact breccia as it contains shocked minerals, glasses, and geochemical signatures unlike typical terrestrial volcanism. The preliminary age of the core material is ~253 Ma. In addition, other geochemical and petrological evidence genetically links the breccia found in the Bedout structure to other end-Permian impact deposits worldwide. This award will support a workshop in Australia to provide an international forum to present the available geologic and geophysical data about the offshore Bedout structure, the geochemical and petrologic characteristics of its core, and to discuss possible collaborative studies needed to confirm the properties and characteristics of this possible end-Permian crater structure. The workshop will involve both Australian and American scientists and students, as well as others who are familiar with and can critically evaluate the available data. This workshop will provide the framework for a Bedout Working Group whose purpose will be to initiate, foster, and coordinate multi-disciplinary, international studies of the Bedout structure and its possible relationship to the end-Permian mass extinction event.