Bedout basement rise, offshore northwestern Australia: evidence of an unshocked mafic volcanic hyaloclastite volcanic breccia

Core samples from Bedout-1 (3035.8-3044.95 m.), Bedout basement rise, offshore northwestern Australia, were examined by optical microscopy, SEM, EDS and WDS spectrometry. At this stratigraphic depth level Becker et al. (2004) interpret cryptocrystalline alteration zones around and within plagioclase in terms of shock-induced transformation of feldspar into diaplectic maskelynite glass _u postulating a ~200 km-large impact structure and thereby an impact connection of the Permian-Triassic boundary mass extinction. However, the breccia is dominated by fragments of microlitic basalt and ophitic-textured dolerite with well preserved igneous textures, showing no evidence of shock metamorphism. Euhedral pseudomorphs of chlorite and amphibole, probably after pyroxene, protrude into or are enveloped by euhedral albite-twinned calcic plagioclase (andesine to bytownite). Minor phases include euhedral ilmenite needles and subhedral magnetite grains. Plagioclase is altered by cryptocrystalline albite and microcrystalline albite-chlorite matrix along crystal boundaries, along twin lamella and within internal oscillatory crystal zones, consistent with burial metamorphosed hydrovolcanic basalts and spilites (e.g. Amstutz, 1974). The volcanic fragments are set within, and injected by, microcrystalline intergranular mesostasis of mixed mineral fragments and volcanic meta-glass. Becker et al. (2004) refer to the breccia in part as product of Mg-rich sediments (e.g. dolomites). However, apart from the pristine igneous textures of the breccia, the transition element levels (chlorite in dolerite fragment "C Ni 97-160 ppm; Co 75-152 ppm; Cu 69-204 ppm; mesostasis "C Ni 29-45 ppm; Co 18-52 ppm; Cu 26-110 ppm) are consistent with Fe-rich basalts but exceed common abundances in carbonates and marls (BVTP, 1981; Wedepohl, 1978). No shock metamorphic features, such as planar deformation features (PDF), are observed in the feldspar or in any other phases. No criteria for discriminating maskelynite and volcanic meta-glass are indicated by Becker et al. (2004). As PDF formation (10-35 GPa) necessarily precedes diaplectic transformation into maskelynite (35-45 GPa) (French, 1998), a presence of maskelynite is inconsistent with the absence of PDF in the plagioclase _u a phase prone to the development of shock effects (e.g. Mory, 2000). Little evidence exists for the hydrothermal activity which typically follows impact events. However, thanks to a partial development of a rim syncline-like structure in Triassic sediments around the Bedout rise, further testing of the origin of this remarkable structure is warranted. Amstutz, G.C., 1974, Spilites and Spilitic Rocks, Springer-Verlag, Berlin; Becker, L. et al., 2004, Science Express, 13.5.04; BVSP - Basaltic Volcanism Study Project, 1981, Pergamon; French, B.M., 1998, Traces of Catastrophe, Lunar and Planetary Contributions 954; Mory et al., 2000, Earth and Planetary Science, 177, 119-128; Wedepohl, K.H., Handbook of Geochemistry, Springer-Verlag, 1978.