Impact deposit at the Moneva reservoir, Azuara impact structure (Spain)

by Ferran Claudin, Daniel Gorgas & Kord Ernstson (March 2013)

In 2012 in the course of a field trip around the Moneva reservoir (Fig. 1, 2) one of the authors, Daniel Gorgas from Azuara who already in the past had frequently contributed important geologic observations to the Azuara impact research, came across a geologic setting that appeared to drastically deviate from the “normal” deposits well known to him as the extended young Tertiary sediments within the Azuara structure. Following his report we began to study the geological maps of the area around the reservoir (Fig. 2, 3) and then to investigate the outcrops in more detail.

Fig. 1. Location map for the investigated outcrops at the Moneva reservoir within the Azuara impact structure (roughly outlined by a dashed circle).  Continue reading “Impact deposit at the Moneva reservoir, Azuara impact structure (Spain)”

The investigation of the Azuara and Rubielos large impact structures now lasts about 30 years. Since the early eighties of the last century we have produced abundant and very exciting evidence for this unique geological scenario on the Iberian peninsula – despite much bitter opposition from various sides, persons and for various motives, which can be looked up elsewhere on this website. Much of our geological and petrographical material is being presented here in the web, but it is only part of an accumulation many times greater. Therefore we have decided to add little by little to the complex of the Azuara and Rubielos de la Cérida impact geology, and we don’t give up hope that a few more geologists become motivated to visit this extraordinary meteorite impact ensemble of some 120 km length.

We begin with an outcrop scenario easily accessible roadside at the village of Moyuela in the middle of the Azuara structure (Fig. 1) typically showing the enormous destruction the impact exerted on the well-bedded Jurassic limestones, which is inexplicable by normal Alpidic tectonics.

Continue reading “New images – Azuara impact structure: peculiar megabrecciation near Moyuela”

by Kord Ernstson & Ferran Claudin (2012)

Shocked quartzite cobbles making up widely spread Triassic Buntsandstein conglomerates in Northern Spain have been reported (Ernstson et al. 1999, 2001) to be related to the Mid-Tertiary large Azuara multiple impact event with the formation of the Azuara impact structure and the Rubielos de la Cérida elongated impact basin (Hradil et al. 2001, Ernstson et al. 2001, 2002, Schüssler et al. 2002, Claudin & Ernstson 2003, Ernstson et al. 2003). The quartzite cobbles (and boulders) are peculiarly and intensively pockmarked and cratered (Figs. 1, 2) and show in general a closely spaced subparallel fracturing (Fig. 3). The cobbles’ characteristics become especially evident when they are found scattered in the field as a result of the conglomerate weathering (Fig. 4).

Fig. 1. Typically pockmarked, cratered and polished (the large boulder) quartzite cobbles and boulders from the Triassic Buntsandstein conglomerates.

Continue reading “Impact-induced surface hardening of polished quartzite cobbles, Triassic Buntsandstein conglomerates, Northern Spain”