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The IODP‐ICDP Expedition 364 drilling recovered a 829 m core from Hole M0077A, sampling ˜600 m of near continuous crystalline basement within the peak ring of the Chicxulub impact structure. The bulk of the basement consists of pervasively deformed, fractured, and shocked granite. Detailed geochemical investigations of 41 granitoid samples, that is, major and trace element contents, and Sr–Nd isotopic ratios are presented here, providing a broad overview of the composition of the granitic crystalline basement. Mainly granite but also granite clasts (in impact melt rock), granite breccias, and aplite were analyzed, yielding relatively homogeneous compositions between all samples. The granite is part of the high‐K, calc‐alkaline metaluminous series. Additionally, they are characterized by high Sr/Y and (La/Yb)N ratios, and low Y and Yb contents, which are typical for adakitic rocks. However, other criteria (such as Al2O3 and MgO contents, Mg#, K2O/Na2O ratio, Ni concentrations, etc.) do not match the adakite definition. Rubidium–Sr errorchron and initial 87Sr/86Srt=326Ma suggest that a hydrothermal fluid metasomatic event occurred shortly after the granite formation, in addition to the postimpact alteration, which mainly affected samples crosscut by shear fractures or in contact with aplite, where the fluid circulation was enhanced, and would have preferentially affected fluid‐mobile element concentrations. The initial (ɛNd)t=326Ma values range from −4.0 to 3.2 and indicate that a minor Grenville basement component may have been involved in the granite genesis. Our results are consistent with previous studies, further supporting that the cored granite unit intruded the Maya block during the Carboniferous, in an arc setting with crustal melting related to the closure of the Rheic Ocean associated with the assembly of Pangea. The granite was likely affected by two distinct hydrothermal alteration events, both influencing the granite chemistry: (1) a hydrothermal metasomatic event, possibly related to the first stages of Pangea breakup, which occurred approximately 50 Myr after the granite crystallization, and (2) the postimpact hydrothermal alteration linked to a long‐lived hydrothermal system within the Chicxulub structure. Importantly, the granites sampled in Hole M0077A are unique in composition when compared to granite or gneiss clasts from other drill cores recovered from the Chicxulub impact structure. This marks them as valuable lithologies that provide new insights into the Yucatán basement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the effect of the end-Cretaceous impact event on the present-day deep microbial biosphere at the impact site. IODP-ICDP Expedition 364 drilled into the peak ring of the Chicxulub crater, México, allowing us to investigate the microbial communities within this structure. Increased cell biomass was found in the impact suevite, which was deposited within the first few hours of the Cenozoic, demonstrating that the impact produced a new lithological horizon that caused a long-term improvement in deep subsurface colonization potential. In the biologically impoverished granitic rocks, we observed increased cell abundances at impact-induced geological interfaces, that can be attributed to the nutritionally diverse substrates and/or elevated fluid flow. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing revealed taxonomically distinct microbial communities in each crater lithology. These observations show that the impact caused geological deformation that continues to shape the deep subsurface biosphere at Chicxulub in the present day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents petrographic and geochemical characterization of 46 pre-impact rocks and 32 impactites containing and/or representing impact melt rock from the peak ring of the Chicxulub impact structure (Yucatán, Mexico). The aims were both to investigate the components that potentially contributed to the impact melt (i.e., the pre-impact lithologies) and to better elucidate impact melt rock emplacement at Chicxulub. The impactites presented here are subdivided into two sample groups: the lower impact melt rock--bearing unit, which intrudes the peak ring at different intervals, and the upper impact melt rock unit, which overlies the peak ring. The geochemical characterization of five identified pre-impact lithologies (i.e., granitoid, dolerite, dacite, felsite, and limestone) was able to constrain the bulk geochemical composition of both impactite units. These pre-impact lithologies thus likely represent the main constituent lithologies that were involved in the formation of impact melt rock. In general, the composition of both impactite units can be explained by mixing of the primarily felsic and mafic lithologies, but with varying degrees of carbonate dilution. It is assumed that the two units were initially part of the same impact-produced melt, but discrete processes separated them during crater formation. The lower impact melt rock--bearing unit is interpreted to represent impact melt rock injected into the crystalline basement during the compression/excavation stage of cratering. These impact melt rock layers acted as delamination surfaces within the crystalline basement, accommodating its displacement during peak ring formation. This movement strongly comminuted the impact melt rock layers present in the peak ring structure. The composition of the upper impact melt rock unit was contingent on the entrainment of carbonate components and is interpreted to have stayed at the surface during crater development. Its formation was not finalized until the modification stage, when carbonate material would have reentered the crater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a new classification of a ~100-m-thick crater suevite sequence in the recent International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP)-International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) Expedition 364 Hole M0077A drill core to better understand the formation of suevite on top of the Chicxulub peak ring. We provide an extensive data set for this succession that consists of whole-rock major and trace element compositional data (n = 212) and petrographic data supported by digital image analysis. The suevite sequence is subdivided into three units that are distinct in their petrography, geochemistry, and sedimentology, from base to top: the ~5.6-m-thick non-graded suevite unit, the ~89-m-thick graded suevite unit, and the ~3.5-m-thick bedded suevite unit. All of these suevite units have isolated Cretaceous planktic foraminifera within their clastic groundmass, which suggests that marine processes were responsible for the deposition of the entire M0077A suevite sequence. The most likely scenario describes that the first ocean water that reached the northern peak ring region entered through a N-NE gap in the Chicxulub outer rim. We estimate that this ocean water arrived at Site M0077 within 30 minutes after the impact and was relatively poor in rock debris. This water caused intense quench fragmentation when it interacted with the underlying hot impact melt rock, and this resulted in the emplacement of the ~5.6-m-thick hyaloclastite-like, non-graded suevite unit. In the following hours, the impact structure was flooded by an ocean resurge rich in rock debris, which caused the phreatomagmatic processes to stop and the ~89-m-thick graded suevite unit to be deposited. We interpret that after the energy of the resurge slowly dissipated, oscillating seiche waves took over the sedimentary regime and formed the ~3.5-m-thick bedded suevite unit. The final stages of the formation of the impactite sequence (estimated to be <20 years after impact) were dominated by resuspension and slow atmospheric settling, including the final deposition of Chicxulub impactor debris. Cumulatively, the Site M0077 suevite sequence from the Chicxulub impact site preserved a high-resolution record that provides an unprecedented window for unravelling the dynamics and timing of proximal marine cratering processes in the direct aftermath of a large impact event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on a study that explores globally distributed iridium layer preserved within the Chicxulub impact structure. It mentions the concentration of ultrafine meteoritic matter occurs in the post-impact sediments that cover the crater peak ring. It discusses that iridium layer provides a key temporal horizon precisely linking Chicxulub to K-Pg boundary sections worldwide.

Impact events that create complex craters excavate mid- to lower-crustal rocks, offering a unique perspective on the interior composition and internal dynamics of planetary bodies. On the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, the surface geology mainly consists of ∼3 km thick sedimentary rocks, with a lack of exposure of crystalline basement in many areas. Consequently, current understanding of the Yucatán subsurface is largely based on impact ejecta and drill cores recovered from the 180–200-km-diameter Chicxulub impact structure. In this study, we present the first apatite and titanite U Pb ages for pre-impact dacitic, doleritic, and felsitic magmatic dikes preserved in Chicxulub's peak ring sampled during the 2016 IODP-ICDP Expedition 364. Dating yielded two age groups, with Carboniferous dacites (328–318 Ma) and a felsite (330± 9 Ma) overlapping in age with most of the granitoid basement sampled in the Expedition 364 drill core, as well as Jurassic dolerites (169–159 Ma) and a felsite (158 ± 19 Ma) that represent the first in situ sampling of Jurassic-age magmatic intrusions for the Yucatán Peninsula. Further investigation of the Nd, Sr, and Hf isotopic compositions of these pre-impact lithologies and impact melt rocks from the peak ring structure suggest that dolerites generally contributed up to ∼10 vol% of the Chicxulub impact melt rock sampled in the peak ring. This percentage implies that the dolerites comprised a large part of the Yucatán subsurface by volume, representing a hitherto unsampled pervasive Jurassic magmatic phase. We interpret this magmatic phase to be related to the opening of the Gulf of Mexico, representing the first physical sampling of lithologies associated with the southern extension of the opening of the Gulf of Mexico and likely constraining its onset to the Late Middle Jurassic. • The Chicxulub impact structure excavates Jurassic dolerites • First in situ Jurassic crystalline lithologies discovered on the Yucatán Peninsula • Impact melt rock composition reveals these dolerites to be a pervasive magmatic phase • These dolerites are associated with the opening of the Gulf of Mexico [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]