Abstract
The Wetumpka impact structure is a deeply eroded, arcuate, 7.6-km diameter Late Cretaceous feature located within the inner Coastal Plain, Alabama, which was produced by a Late Cretaceous impact into shallow marine water. Wetumpka has distinctive exposed, geologic terrains produced by impact-related processes. These exposed terrains include Wetumpka’s crystalline rim and two sedimentary terrains: (a) an interior unit (resurge unit), and (b) adjacent extra-structure unit (deformed unit) located outside the rim on the structure’s southern side. Core drilling near the structure’s geographic center revealed that Wetumpka’s structure fill has two distinctive units: (1) an upper, resurge-deposited unit (~ 60 m thick; same as the “interior unit” above) and (2) a lower, structure-filling breccia unit comprised of fall-back ejecta layers, slumped target-rock blocks, and impact-related sandy breccias and sands (> 130 m thick).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Dietz RS (1961) Astroblemes. Scientific American 205: 50–58
Harbaugh JW, Bonham-Carter G (1970) Computer simulation in geology. Wiley Inter-science, New York, 98 pp
King Jr DT (1994) Upper Cretaceous depositional sequences in the Alabama Coastal Plain: their characteristics and constituent clastic aquifers. Journal of Sedimentary Research B64: 258–265
King Jr DT (1997) The Wetumpka impact crater and the Late Cretaceous impact record. Alabama Geological Society Guidebook 34c: 25–56
King Jr DT (1998) Wetumpka melange, a new stratigraphic unit in Alabama. Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions 48: 151–158
King Jr DT, Neathery TL (1998) The Wetumpka asteroid impact structure in Alabama, U.S.A. [abs.] American Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Convention Abstracts 7: abstract no. 358, 6 p (CD ROM)
King Jr DT, Neathery TL, Petruny LW (1999) Impactite facies within Wetumpka impact crater, Alabama. [abs.] Lunar and Planetary Science 30: abstract no. 1634 (CD ROM)
King Jr DT, Neathery TL, Petruny LW, Koeberl C, Hames WE (2002) Shallow marine-impact origin for the Wetumpka structure ( Alabama, USA). Earth and Planetary Science Letters 202: 41–549
Koeberl C, Anderson RR (1996) Manson and company: Impact structures of the United States. In: Koeberl C, Andersom RR (eds) Manson Impact Structure, Iowa; Anatomy of an Impact Crater. Geological Society of America Special Paper 302: 1–30
McDonnell KL (1978) Transition matrices and the depositional environments of a fluvial sequence. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 48: 43–48
Melosh HJ (1989) Impact Cratering, a Geologic Process. Oxford University Press, New York, 245 pp
Miall AD (1973) Markov chain analysis applied to an ancient alluvial plain succession. Sedimentology 20: 347–364
Miall AD (1996) The geology of fluvial deposits: sedimentary facies, basin analysis, and petroleum geology. Springer-Verlag, Belin Heidelberg, 582 pp
Neathery TL (1983) Description (of stops 15A, B, and C). Alabama Geological Society Guidebook 20: 48–52
Neathery TL, Bentley RD, Lines GC (1976) Cryptoexplosive structure near Wetumpka, Alabama. Geological Society of America Bulletin 87: 567–573
Nelson AI (2000) Geological mapping of Wetumpka impact crater area, Elmore County, Alabama [unpublished M.S. thesis]. Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, 187 pp
Ormö J, Lindström M (2000) When a cosmic impact strikes the seabed. Geological Magazine 137: 67–80
Puckett TM (1991) Absolute paleobathymetry of Upper Cretaceous chalks based on ostracodes: Evidence from the Demopolis chalk (Campanian-Maastrichtian) of the northern Gulf Coastal Plain. Geology 19: 449–452
Raymond LA (1984) Classification of mélanges. In: Raymond LA (ed) Melanges, Their Nature, Origin, and Significance, Geological Society of America Special Paper 198, pp 7–20
Reading HG (1986) Facies. In: Reading HG (ed) Sedimentary Environments and Facies, 2nd. ed., Oxford, Blackwell Scientific, pp 4–19
Reinhardt J, Smith LW, King, Jr. DT (1986) Sedimentary facies of the Upper Cretaceous Tuscaloosa Group in eastern Alabama. Geological Society of America, Centennial Field Guide-Southeastern Section, pp 363–367
Rindsberg AK (1986) Cretaceous trace fossils in Alabama chalks. Alabama Geological Society Guidebook 26: 111–119
Selley RC (1970) Studies of sequence in sediments using a simple mathematical device. Geological Society of London Quarterly Journal 125: 557–581
Stöffler D, Grieve RAF (1994) Classification and nomenclature of impact metamorphic rocks: A proposal to the IUGS subcommission of the systematics of metamorphic rocks. In: Montanari A, Smit J (eds) Post-Östersund Newsletter, European Science Foundation (ESF) Network on Impact Cratering and Evolution of Planet Earth, Strasbourg, pp 9–15
Szabo MW, Osborne WE, Copeland Jr CW, Neathery TL (1988) Geologic map of Alabama. Geological Survey of Alabama, Special Map 220, scale 1: 250, 000
von Dalwigk I, Ormö J (2001) Formation of resurge gullies at impacts at sea: the Lockne crater, Sweden. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 36: 359–369
Walker RG (1984) Facies, Facies Sequences, and Facies Models. In Walker RG (ed) Facies Models 2nd. ed., Toronto, Geological Association of Canada, pp 1–10
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2004 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
King, D.T., Neathery, T.L., Petruny, L.W. (2004). Structure-filling Sediments of the Wetumpka Marine-target Impact Structure (Alabama, USA). In: Dypvik, H., Burchell, M.J., Claeys, P. (eds) Cratering in Marine Environments and on Ice. Impact Studies. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-06423-8_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-06423-8_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-07376-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-06423-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive