Dear colleagues
Good morning. I recently visited a crater and collected a couple of samples from the ring. Could these be geyserites or something else?
Best regards
Ioannis
Both volcanic activity and explosion from a meteorite collision would look similar on the first inspection. The cavities in the rock suggest there was a liquid or gas that went through when it formed.
A major meteorite crater in my area was called a volcano for a very long time until the government drilled the area and the rocks were studied in detail.
Did you see any diamonds in the impact rocks? Diamonds have been described from several meteorite craters including the famous Ries in Germany. The melt rock there containing small diamonds was used as building stone for hundreds of years.
Dear Michael
Good morning and thank you for your interest. The answer is that no diamonds have been located in the 2 thin sections I have sent to the lab.
Καλή ανάσταση
Ioannis
I don't think thin sectioning of rocks can actually cut through diamonds, because diamond is the hardest mineral.
If the original rock contained graphite before the meteorite hit, it could produce diamonds from graphite. This is the story of the Popigai crater in northern Russia.
It is possible that other craters exist with diamonds in the surrounding rocks. For example, the crater in my area (which is the earth's 13th biggest) has had very little work done on it.
Dear Michael
Thank you for your detailed reply. I don't thick that structure or rocks are of meteorite origin since no shutter cones or shocked quartz have been found. I had sent the 2 thin sections and 2 samples to a top volcanologist and he found some organic material. He assured me that the rocks are geyserites. I was only wondering if these rocks could be very young carbonatites?
Best regards
Ioannis
The subject of carbonatites gets very interesting as they were not recognized in the past and there must be more around. You must find some in Greece.
It appears we have some coincidence in our efforts to find out more information from petrographic investigations.
In my meteorite crater investigation no one has ever seen shutter cones (they could not form in carbonates which we have in our area) or shocked quartz or other shocked minerals. My petrographic results from Vancouver Petrographics (quite respectable people) pointed out volcanic features and hot spring deposit characteristics.
I didn't tell them they came from a meteor crater, so I was expecting some confirmation. So, petrographically speaking, they were similar, but additional criteria are needed to make a complete identification.
Our crater has a central peak and one circular ring, so it gets confirmed on these characteristics. Also it is a multiple impact event with one rock falling in France and another in the Dakotas (~214 my ago).
Best wishes,
Michael (Μιχαλης)
Dear Michael
Good morning. Thank you for your detailed reply. Regarding carbonatites in Greece Schenker et al 2018 have found a meta-carbonatite dike on the Pierian mountains (see photo attached).
Best regards
Ioannis
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