Mjolnir (Barents Sea) meteorite impact ejecta offers a Volgian-Ryazanian boundary marker

New biostratigraphic evidences from a core drilled in the central part of the 40 km diameter submarine Mjolnir meteorite crater on the Barents Shelf are presented. The data suggest a stratigraphical age for the meteorite impact approximating the Volgian-Ryazanian boundary. This age corresponds to the later pan of the Early Berriasian (Berriasella jacobi Zone) of the Tethyan Realm. A similar age for the impact is further documented from the macro- and microfaunas and microfloras found in the ejecta-bearing strata in an additional borehole located 30 km northeast of the crater. Iridium anomalies found in the Volgian-Ryazanian boundary strata on central Spitsbergen-Svalbard and Nordvik Peninsula in northern Siberia appear also to be related to the Mjolnir impact, providing additional support for a Volgian-Ryazanian boundary age of the impact.

Publication Details

  • Type

    Journal Article

  • Title

    Mjolnir (Barents Sea) meteorite impact ejecta offers a Volgian-Ryazanian boundary marker

  • Year

    2001

  • Author(s)

    Smelror, M., Kelly, S.R.A., Dypvik, H., Mork, A., Nagy, J. and Tsikalas, F.

  • Journal

    Newsletters on Stratigraphy

  • Volume

    38

  • Issue

    2-3

  • Page(s)

    129-140

  • People

Charity and Education