(2007), Microbial signatures from impact-induced hydrothermal settings of the Ries Crater, Germany; a preliminary SEM study [abstract 1989], Tektites and microtektites: key facts and inferences, Goesmann F., Rosenbauer H., Bredehft J.H., Cabane M., Ehrenfreund P., Gautier T., Giri C., Krger H., Le Roy L., MacDermott A.J., McKenna-Lawlor S., Meierhenrich U.J., Caro G.M.M., Raulin F., Roll R., Steele A., Steininger H., Sternberg R., Szopa C., Thiemann W., and Ulamec S. (2015), Organic compounds on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko revealed by COSAC mass spectrometry, Gohn G.S., Koeberl C., Miller K.G., Reimold W.U., Browning J.V., Cockell C.S., Horton J.W., Kenkmann T., Kulpecz A.A., Powars D.S., Sanford W.E., and Voytek M.A. Note that although there were fewer people and the country was less settled during the first 100 years, the number of falls from 1807 through 1906 (52) is not much less than the number of falls in the last 100 years, between 1922 and 2020 (87). 2010; Sapers et al., This event occurred about 15 million years ago, and a splatter of hot glass formed a strewn field across central Europe. 1, ,4)4) and, during larger kilometer-sized events, may be transported hundreds to thousands of kilometers in distal ejecta deposits (Osinski et al., Only a few impact craters in the US can be seen from the ground. Yet again, impact craters provide a mechanism to generate subaerial settings even in marine environmentsalbeit with an upper limit of a few hundred meters of seawaterin the form of uplifted crater rims (Figs. We now turn our attention to the question of whether life could exist on present-day Mars. It is unknown as to whether a crater lake was formed immediately following impact. 2009) but also are the most fertile substrate for tens of kilometers around the Haughton structure (Cockell et al., 2010; Sleep et al., A further study conducted at the Haughton impact structure, by Izawa et al. The conditions, timing, and setting for the origin of life on Earth and whether life exists elsewhere in our solar system and beyond represent some of the most fundamental scientific questions of our time. Note that a habitat or substrate may remain used during subsequent stages (e.g., porous rocks and glasses can remain important habitats during the equilibrium phase). (2017), Spectral properties of martian and other planetary glasses and their detection in remotely sensed data, Forming a moon with an Earth-like composition via a giant impact, Carter J., Poulet F., Bibring J.P., and Murchie S. (2010), Detection of hydrated silicates in crustal outcrops in the Northern plains of Mars, Assessing the formation of valley networks on a cold early Mars: predictions for erosion rates and channel morphology, Hydrothermal Processes and Mineral Systems, Planetary accretion in the inner Solar System, Chapman C.R., Cohen B.A., and Grinspoon D.H. (2007). Combining impact-brecciated rocks with the deep fractures formed during the impact, it is plausible that these subsurface martian rocks could theoretically have provided refugia for organisms as they do on Earth. Finally, unlike plate tectonicswhich has substantial implications for the nature of volcanism on early Earthwe know that impact events were ubiquitous during the Hadean, thus reducing the necessity to rely on speculation as to the geological processes active on early Earth. The largest meteorite ever found in the United States is called the Willamette Meteorite. The end result of the hydrothermal phase is a large volume of variably altered pre-impact target rocks and impactites. (C) Hydrothermal pipe structure interpreted as fossil hydrothermal vent in the rim region of the Haughton impact structure. In contrast, meteorite impact craters are one of the most dominant geological landforms on Mars (Strom et al., 1C) (Table 2). Leslie Van Houten, follower of cult leader Charles Manson, is one big step closer to freedom, An Iowa meteorologist started talking about climate change on newscasts. On a clear night scores of meteoroids streak across the sky. Lacustrine sediments in general offer not only a quiescent habitat allowing for the establishment of stable microbial communities but also excellent preservation potential of organics and other biomarkers (e.g., Meyers and Ishiwatari, 1993). Average porosities are 18%. 2005a) (Figs. As described above, such rocks, when exposed to very high pressures, become highly porous and have a high surface area to volume ratio and can have densities lower than that of water, thus being similar to pumicewhich can float and form aggregate rafts of material. The scarcity of pre-3.9 Ga ages in Apollo samples as well as similar impact age distributions in some meteorites has led some to believe that the LHB was the result of a lunar terminal cataclysm (e.g., Cohen et al., But, because it has been partially filled with sand, there is no way to know how deep the crater was after impact. Above is a map depicting how many are from each state. In Section 3, we reviewed how meteorite impacts could have delivered and generated the necessary ingredients for liferanging from amino acids, HCN and CO, to clay mineralson Hadean Earth. 5, ,6A).6A). Based originally on the determination of a large concentration of 3.9 Ga ages in Apollo samples (e.g., Papanastassiou and Wasserburg, 1971; Tera et al., Indeed, while still debated, many phylogenetic tree reconstructions when using molecular analyses of 16S rRNA combined with metabolic studies suggest a hyperthermophilic last universal common ancestor (LUCA) (Woese et al., On a planetary scale, numerical modelling has also shown that there is no plausible scenario in which the habitable zone could be fully sterilized during the period of intense cratering on early Earth (Abramov and Mojzsis, 2009; Grimm and Marchi, 2018). (2013) also argued that methane and hydrogen gasses released during serpentinization could have reacted with available electron acceptors (CO2, NO3, NO2, Fe2+, Mg2+) in the acidic Hadean ocean, satisfying the requirement for a -G. Further hypotheses for the environment in which life originated include volcano-hosted splash pools in coastal environments (e.g., Fox and Strasdeit, 2013) and floating pumice rafts on early oceans (Brasier et al., In these large structures, the more effective convective heat transport takes place only near the surface, whereas in deeper parts of the crater conduction is the dominant form of heat transport. 2018) (Figs. Before (2002), metabolic activity of subsurface life in deep-sea sediments, The universal ancestor was a thermophile or a hyperthermophile, The universal ancestor was a thermophile or a hyperthermophile: tests and further evidence, The tree of life might be rooted in the branch leading to Nanoarchaeota, Dodd M.S., Papineau D., Grenne T., Slack J.F., Rittner M., Pirajno F., O'Neil J., and Little C.T.S. (C) Shock Level 3 (1030 GPa). These authors also provided their view as to the advantages and disadvantages of these various settings with respect to prebiotic chemistry and the emergence of life and assessed potentials for these environments in terms of origination (i.e., the ability of the environment to provide the building blocks for life), complexification (i.e., the ability of the environment to provide and sustain the conditions suitable for emergence of life), and plausibility (i.e., the likelihood that this environment existed on Hadean Earth). (2018), whereby marine meteorite impacts on the scale of Chicxulub and Sudbury generate large volumes of impact melt rock (see Section 2.1), which for all intents and purposes is equivalent to the oceanic crust, and have been shown to have been rapidly infilled by sediment, and also generate hydrothermal systems (see Section 2.2). However, the bulk compositions of impact melts are diverse, reflecting heterogeneities in the target lithologies, and often display greater chemical heterogeneity on multiple scales than observed in comparative volcanic products (see Osinski et al., 1B, ,4),4), and impact ejecta deposits. A detailed study of the basal Ries crater lake sediments is ongoing and confirms the hydrothermal origin of smectite clays but also highlights that there is a complex story of other secondary mineral formation through recent weathering (Svensson et al., (2011) suggested that the interlayer space in clays leads to the formation both of RNA oligomers and the selection of left-handed amino acids. It is widely believed that Mars and Earth shared similar early histories before their geological evolution diverged. 2002; Walker and Pace, 2007; Omelon, 2008). Zelenskyy flies former POWs back to Ukraine. Confirmation that a large meteorite impact in Mexico correlates with a mass extinction (about 76% of fossilizable species), including the dinosaurs, is revolutionizing geology. The U.S. Population Lines While impact craters have featured prominently in the surface exploration of Mars in the past, they have typically been viewed as sites offering bedrock exposure (e.g., Eagle, Endurance, and Victoria Craters during the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's exploration [Squyres et al., As described in Section 2.2 and shown schematically in Fig. The Crooked Creek impact structure is a 6-7 km diameter or slightly larger complex crater located in southwestern Crawford County, Missouri, at approximately N 37 50' by W 9123' or (91.39485 degrees west, 37.83496 degrees north) (Mulvany, 2004). United States Meteorite Impact Craters - Beaverhead crater, Montana and IDAHO Beaverhead crater, Montana and IDAHO The Beaverhead impact structure, which spans the border between Montana and Idaho, is the second largest known meteorite impact crater in the United States. 2011) (Fig. All minerals are transformed to diaplectic glass or partially to completely melted and transformed to mineral glasses. Meteorite Impact Craters Meteorites crash through the Earth's atmosphere with tremendous force. The most common mass range for United States meteorites is 4-8 kg. The outer margin of central uplifts is also typically highly fractured and faulted and, correspondingly, provides sites of preferential fluid flow and hydrothermal mineralization (Hode et al., Modern effects But the effects of the asteroid impact can still be seen today, most notably in the bay itself. Some planets are more pockmarked with craters than others: the Moon is covered with thousands but the Earth has only 200 confirmed meteorite . The beads were later found in the Dickson Mounds archaeological site near Havana, Illinois, in the 1940s. (2014), Enigmatic tubular features in impact glass, Sapers H.M., Banerjee N.R., and Osinski G.R. 1B1D, complex craters are defined by the presence of a central uplift that, in general, brings rocks to the surface from a depth approximately equal to one-tenth of the diameter: for a 100km diameter impact crater on Earth, the central uplift rocks would be derived from 10km depth. 24). However, as discussed by Neish et al. NASA in a statement to USA . 5, ,6).6). The crater has well-preserved ejecta deposits, and impact melt occurs both inside and outside the peak-ring. 6G]), sulfides, sulfates, halides, and various oxides and oxyhydroxides (Figs. Several studies have shown that amino acids can be synthesized due to atmospheric shock heating in primitive atmospheres (e.g., Bar-Nun et al., A wide range of hydrothermal minerals have been documented in impact structures around the world, with target lithology strongly influencing the mineral assemblages formed in impact-generated hydrothermal systems. The Willamette Meteorite, officially named Willamette and originally known as Tomanowos by the Clackamas Chinook Native American tribe, is an iron-nickel meteorite found in the U.S. state of Oregon.It is the largest meteorite found in the United States and the sixth largest in the world. Over a dozen amino acids have been detected in Murchison, including glycine, alanine, and glutamic acid (e.g., Kvenvolden et al., 2, ,5).5). The target rocks inside the crater are heavily fractured and shock metamorphosed with shock pressures increasing toward the center. Heat sources include plate tectonic-derived volcanism, mantle hotspots, and radioactive decay. Also known as Barringer Crater, this impact crater can be found in northern Arizona. NASA/JPL/ASU. The morphology of the crater itself has also provided unique habitats for macrofauna: Cockell et al. If sufficient ice was present in the subsurface, it seems entirely plausible that transient impact crater lakes would have formed. The Haughton impact structure in the Canadian High Arctic offers a unique opportunity to investigate the effects of the original impact event on the process of ecological succession, where the present-day polar-desert conditions of the High Arctic limit weathering, resulting in impact rocks that are relatively well preserved (Osinski et al., Located in Ontario, this impact crater Scientists once believed that tthe impact crater was200 km across and about 10 km deep. (2013), Woese C.R., Kandler O., and Wheelis M.L. Clays and zeolites are the dominant alteration assemblages, and it is important to note that the heat source for the alteration of ejecta deposits came entirely from the deposits themselves. Many witnesses along the east coast of the United States reported seeing the luminous meteorite trail. The generation of submarine hydrothermal vents through meteorite impacts also circumvents a major problem for this origin-of-life hypothesis; namely that it is very uncertain as to whether black and white smoker-type environmentswhich at the present-day are associated with mid-ocean ridgeswould have existed on early Earth due to the purported absence of plate tectonics (e.g., Kamber, 2015). Of course, our Earth has been battered by meteorites numerous times since its creation and there are thousands of impact craters dotting the Earth. Closer to the point of impact, the melting of a large volume of target rock occurs upon decompression from high shock pressures and temperatures (Osinski et al., Pumice-like material formed during impact events and emplaced within and around craters as clasts in breccias. 1990; Maltais and Vincent, 1997), determined by rock-water interactions that can influence salinity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen concentrations. 1Institute for Earth and Space Exploration, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. (2005), Cooling of the Kardla impact crater: II. Work by Miller (1953) and Zahnle (1986) used lightning and ultraviolet radiation to drive the chemical generation of HCN; however, these products are quickly destroyed and were not able to be effectively concentrated. 2004; Matrajt et al., Note that although 21% of the meteorites from the U.S. are irons,mesosiderites, andpallasites, only4% of the U.S.falls are irons,mesosiderites, andpallasites(5 irons and 1 mesosiderite). (1968). Address correspondence to: Dr. Gordon Osinski, Department of Earth Sciences, 1151 Richmond Street, University of Western Ontario, London ON, N6A 5B7, Canada. 2014, 2015). This list includes all 60 confirmed impact craters in North America in the Earth Impact Database (EID). In terms of a possible hydrothermal-sedimentary context for the origin of life, Westall et al. Brasier et al. Also known as a meteor crater, an impact crater is formed when a meteorite comes into contact with the Earths surface. 2012] and Jezero Crater, the planned landing site for NASA's 2020 Perseverance rover mission [Goudge et al., (2018) categorized four main other potential environments for the origin of life based on the literature (Table 2). Of course, our Earth has been battered by meteorites numerous times since its creation and there are thousands of impact craters dotting the Earth. By contrast, the Tswaing impact crater lake that formed in a 1.13km diameter simple crater is an evaporitic lake containing a rich photosynthetic microbial community (Schoeman and Ashton, 1983; Ashton and Schoeman, 1988). 1970; Pizzarello and Cronin, 1998; Pizzarello et al., the contents by NLM or the National Institutes of Health. (2017), Evidence for early life in Earth's oldest hydrothermal vent precipitates, Dressler B.O., Weiser T., and Brockmeyer P. (1996), Recrystallized impact glasses of the Onaping Formation and the Sudbury Igneous Complex, Sudbury Structure, Ontario, Canada, Ehlmann B.L., Mustard J.F., Murchie S.L., Bibring J.-P., Meunier A., Fraeman A.A., and Langevin Y. (2018) concluded that submarine hydrothermal ventspreviously proposed by many in the literature (e.g., Baross and Hoffman, 1985; Corliss, 1996; Russell and Hall, 1997; Martin et al., Subaerial alkaline hydrothermal environments have also received increasing attention as environments for life's origins, due to lower overall temperatures and the propensity for repeated wetting-drying cycles (Deamer and Georgiou, 2015). Bethesda, MD 20894, Web Policies (1992), On the possibility of chemosynthetic ecosystems in subsurface habitats on Mars, Bowden S.A., Parnell J., and Burchell M.J. (2009), Survival of organic compounds in ejecta from hypervelocity impacts on ice, Life on Mars: chemical arguments and clues from martian meteorites, Brack A., Horneck G., Cockell C.S., Brces A., Belisheva N.K., Eiroa C., Henning T., Herbst T., Kaltenegger L., and Lger A. 1996). In addition to submarine hydrothermal vents, there has been increasing interest in the possibility that subaerial hot springs and geysers may have provided a suitable environment for life's origin (Table 2). 2Department of Earth Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. Is there evidence that these impact-generated hydrothermal systems were colonized by microorganisms? Find cities with a similar climate (2050) Importantly, Patel et al. 2008; Russell et al., Alternatively, given the likelihood of impact-generated hydrothermal activity on Mars (Newsom, 1980; Brakenridge et al., That meteorite impacts result in faulting and fracturing to kilometers' depth is well established, both through field observations (e.g., Kenkmann et al., 2014) and gravity data (e.g . Importantly, for midsized to large structures, meteoric and groundwater may be tapped, penetrating down several kilometers along faults and fractures, warming, and then circulating back, delivering additional heat to the near surface and thereby prolonging hydrothermal fluid flow (Abramov and Kring, 2004; Kirsime and Osinski, 2012). However, if the carbon isotope ratios that were found preserved in metasedimentary rocks in Isua, Greenland (Ohtomo et al., (2017), Evidence for a spatially extensive hydrothermal system at the Ries impact structure, Germany, The Lappajrvi impact structure (Finland): age, duration of hydrothermal crater cooling, and implications for life, Earth's impact events through geologic time: a list of recommended ages for terrestrial impact structures and deposits, The diatom flora in the vicinity of the Pretoria Salt Pan, Transvaal, Republic of South Africa. In the previous section we showed that fracturing, shock metamorphism, and melting during the thermobaric phase can create new surficial endolithic habitats. As noted in Section 2.1 and shown in Fig. 2) and can be broadly described and subdivided into the three main stages as originally defined in the work of Gault et al. 2009), showed a logarithmic downward decline in cell abundance consistent with the general trend of decreasing biomass with increasing depth. Its believed that one such impact with a very large meteorite is what led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Early studies of Comet Halley in 1986 found that dust particles from the nucleus were 14% organic carbon by mass (Ehrenfreund and Charnley, 2000). Indeed, impact ejecta deposits are one of the characteristic features of impact craters throughout the Solar System (e.g., Osinski et al., 2011), with continuous ejecta blankets extending from 1 to 3 crater radii, discontinuous deposits extending to 5 crater radii, and then the potential for distal ejecta deposits to be distributed over thousands of kilometers. (2011) argued that such pumice rafts might have had a role in the origins of life. 5, ,6D).6D). Perhaps unsurprisingly, there has been a general tendency in the past few decades to think of impacts as primarily destructive events that would have endangered, rather than enabled, life on Early Earth, as most recently discussed in the work of Sleep (2018). These shock effects range from fractures and shatter cones at low shock pressures through to the formation of planar deformation features and high-pressure polymorphs, and eventually the generation of diaplectic or solid-state glasses (Figs. (A) The 3.44km diameter New Quebec or Pinguluit Crater is a well-preserved simple impact crater in northern Quebec, Canada. Article Rating. As discussed previously, clay minerals may have played a role in the formation of simple and complex organic molecules. 2005; Ehlmann et al., 2018, and references therein). (2014), Evidence for biogenic graphite in early Archaean Isua metasedimentary rocks, Endolithic microbial communities in polar desert habitats, Onstott T.C., Ehlmann B.L., Sapers H., et al. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the Subsequently, primary succession of the landscape will occur (Cockell and Lee, 2002). At larger diameters, the central peak is replaced by a peak ring (Fig. 5, ,6A),6A), which by themselves are important habitats (see Section 4.3). 2005). Bottom line: Only 1878 meteorites have been found and verified in the U.S. in the past 212 years. We also note, but do not discuss here, the idea that large impacts may have played a role in delivering N2, CO2, and other gasses, that may have provided much of the greenhouse warming needed to offset the faint young Sun, thereby improving the overall habitability of Hadean Earth. In addition to the generation of necessary prebiotic chemical precursors, there is growing recognition that minerals may have played a role in both the formation of simple organic molecules such as formaldehyde and, possibly, in the formation of molecules as complex as RNA, through reactions mediated by minerals, in particular clays (Brack, 2006). 6A) but abundant alteration of the overlying impact melt-bearing breccias (Newsom et al., As reviewed recently by Osinski et al. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences We review the beneficial effects for microbial life ranging from generating conditions conducive to the origin of life (e.g., clays that can act as catalytic substrates for organic reactions, serpentinization, atmospheric generation of hydrogen cyanide, and hot spring environments) to varied habitats for life that persist long after an impact event, including transient hydrothermal systems, endolithic habitats in impact glasses and impact shocked rocks, and impact crater lakes. Mojzsis S.J., Arrhenius G., McKeegan K.D., Harrison T.M., Nutman A.P., and Friend C.R.L. 2001; Bowden et al., In addition to being the potential environment in which life began, as discussed above, hydrothermal environments represent habitats that have likely played an important role in planetary habitability throughout geological time (Farmer, 2000). As above for impacts on land. 2019). Several workers have conducted experiments to investigate the survivability of organics and other bioessential materials during impact. We revisit these previous approaches and distinguish four distinct phases in the origin and subsequent evolution of an impact crater. Artistic rendition of a typical complex impact crater at end of thermobaric phase. 2006; Sherwood Lollar et al., 2010a). All recorded meteorite impacts in the United States (1918 - 2018) October 19, . These observations show that local geology and long-term geological processes can have profound influences on impact crater lake biota, generating great diversity in impact crater lake hosted communities (Cockell and Lee, 2002). Sulfides are ubiquitous in impact-generated hydrothermal systems (Naumov, 2005) and provide an excellent source of reduced sulfur for sulfur-oxidizing chemotrophic metabolisms. This coincidence, in part, led to the hypothesis of the impact frustration of life, whereby the intensity of impact cratering would have either precluded the existence of life prior to 3.8 Ga (Maher and Stevenson, 1988; Sleep et al., Phosphorus and a rich inventory of organic molecules, including methyl cyanate, acetone, propionaldehyde, and acetamide, were detected on the surface (Goesmann et al., In short, a large number of experiments conducted over a range of shock pressures up to 40 GPa have shown that a large fraction of amino acids and organic molecule biomarkers can survive hypervelocity impact (e.g., Blank et al., (2015), Classification and analysis of candidate impact crater-hosted closed-basin lakes on Mars, Goudge T.A., Mohrig D., Cardenas B.T., Hughes C.M., and Fassett C.I. This lake has a richer periphyton community (i.e., organisms that live attached to underwater surfaces) than New Quebec likely owing to the increased area for littoral zone organisms (Cockell and Lee, 2002). . As discussed in Section 2.2, craters of this size range are expected to produce hydrothermal systems with durations of a few tens to hundreds of thousands of years. A major unknown, however, is whether standing bodies of water existed on early Mars for any significant length of time; thus, the formation of submarine hydrothermal vents, volcanic splash pools, and a hydrothermal-sedimentary setting remains speculative. (2010), Putative fossil life in a hydrothermal system of the Dellen impact structure, Sweden, Lis D.C., Keene J., Young K., Phillips T.G., Bockele-Morvan D., Crovisier J., Schilke P., Goldsmith P.F., and Bergin E.A. Impact crater lake environments and habitats. In parallel, light transmission through the substrate has also been documented to increase, where penetration of photosynthetically active radiation can increase by an order of magnitude (Cockell et al., 1BD, ,4).4). Today, these are called 'Simple' craters. Hydrothermal fluid flow through intra-crater sediments overlying impact melt rocks and breccias. Coupled with precipitation and the melting of surface and subsurface ice deposits, where applicable, the influx of water into the crater depression can lead to the generation of a crater lake, potentially within days or weeks (Figs. We thank Norman Sleep and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments and suggestions on this manuscript. 2008; Deamer and Georgiou, 2015)and their own proposed hydrothermal-sedimentary ocean seafloor setting are the two most likely candidate environments for the origin of life (Table 2). 2012). 2002) were required for life to gain a significant hold on early Earth to leave behind a record, and certainly the dominance of surficial life on Earth is due to the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis at 2.5 Ga, conditions that arguably never occurred on Mars. (2015), The fractured Moon: production and saturation of porosity in the lunar highlands from impact cratering, Squyres S.W., Arvidson R.E., Bell J.F., III Brckner, J., Cabrol N.A., Calvin W., Carr M.H., Christensen P.R., Clark B.C., Crumpler L., Des Marais D.J., d'uston D., Economou T., Farmer J., Farrand W., Folkner W., Golombek M., Gorevan S., Grant J.A., Greeley R., Grotzinger J., Haskin L., Herkenhoff K.E., Hvid S., Johnson J., Klingerhfer G., Knoll A.H., Landis G., Lemmon M., Li R., Madsen M.B., Malin M.C., McLennan S.M., McSween H.Y., Ming D.W., Moersch J., Morris R.V., Parker T., Rice J.W.
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