A Precambrian proximal ejecta blanket from Scotland

Ejecta blankets around impact craters are rarely preserved onEarth. Although impact craters are ubiquitous on solid bodiesthroughout the solar system, on Earth they are rapidly effaced,and few records exist of the processes that occur during emplacementof ejecta. The Stac Fada Member of the Precambrian Stoer Groupin Scotland has previously been described as volcanic in origin.However, shocked quartz and biotite provide evidence for high-pressureshock metamorphism, while chromium isotope values and elevatedabundances of platinum group metals and siderophile elementsindicate addition of meteoritic material. Thus, the unit isreinterpreted here as having an impact origin. The ejecta blanketreaches >20 m in thickness and contains abundant dark green,vesicular, devitrified glass fragments. Field observations suggestthat the deposit was emplaced as a single fluidized flow thatformed as a result of an impact into water-saturated sedimentarystrata. The continental geological setting and presence of groundwatermake this deposit an analogue for Martian fluidized ejecta blankets.