Middle Paleozoic impact event in the southwest of the East European Platform

Abstract

Abstract A zone with high remanent magnetization and magnetic susceptibility has been identified at the boundary between Lower Devonian gray- and red-colored deposits in the basin of the Dniester River in the southwest of Ukraine (in the southwest of the East European Platform). The microparticles of native iron and nickel and iron–nickel intermetallic compounds found here might be markers of an impact event in the Lochkovian (~415 Ma). Electron microscope examination and probe microanalysis of the chemical composition, morphology, structures, and textures of specific microobjects showed that they are the product of melting of meteoritic substance and target rocks caused by an impact explosion. Explosive dispersion and deposition of microparticles on the Earth’s surface result in a rapid differentiation of their substance. The obtained data can be used as evidence of a reference impact event during the fall of an iron-stone meteorite, and a characteristic set of minerals and geochemical parameters can help to identify catastrophic events in the geologic history.