Neugrund - Hypervelocity Impact Crater

Alternate Names
Local Language
Coordinates 59° 19' 44" N; 23° 37' 3" E
Notes
  1. NW Estonia. Coordinates are approximate, offshore (Suuroja and Saadre, 1995).
Country Estonia
Region Harju
Date Confirmed 1997
Notes
  1. Shatter cones, PDF's and PF's in quartz (Suuroja et al., 1997).
Buried? Yes
Notes
  1. Underwater
Drilled? No
Target Type Crystalline
Notes
  1. Amphibolites, gneisses, granitoids. Impact event took place in a shallow epicontinental sea not far from shoreline at the time (Suuroja and Suuroja, 2000).
Sub-Type Amphibolite, Gneiss, Granitoid
Apparent Crater Diameter (km) 20 km
Age (Ma) 530 - 540
Notes :
  1. 530-540 Ma based on stratigraphic age constraints (early Cambrian) (Suuroja and Suuroja, 2000).

Method :
  1. Statigraphy
Impactor Type Unknown

Advanced Data Fields

Notes

Erosion
5
  1. Deeply eroded structure.
Final Rim Diameter
Unknown
Apparent Rim Diameter
20 km
  1. Initially a 7 km rim-to-rim diameter was measured which was later interpreted as the inner ring wall. Later a 9 km diameter inner ring was distinguished with an outer crater diameter outlined by the ring fault at 20 km (Suuroja and Suuroja, 2010).
Rim Reliability Index
3
  1. A central uplift (plateau) appears to be ~5.5 km in diameter (Suuroja and Suuroja, 2010).
Crater Morphology
Complex
Central Uplift Diameter
5.5km
Central Uplift Height
Unknown
Uplift Reliability Index
Structural Uplift
Unknown
Thickness of Seds
Target Age
Marine
Yes
Impactor Type
Other Shock Metamorphism
No
Shatter Cones
No
  1. (Suuroja and Suuroja, 2000) report on "conical fracture surfaces (shatter cones)" within breccia samples" (in rim-wall ejected blocks and/or erratic boulders?). [To be confirmed!]
Planar Fractures
No
Planar Deformation Features
Yes
  1. PDF in breccias (Suuroja, pers. comm.). PDF in quartz are rarely observed (Suuroja and Suuroja, 2000).
Diaplectic Glass
No
Coesite
No
Stisovite
No
Crater Fill
LB, MB, M
  1. Lithic impact breccias, melt-bearing breccias and melt rocks have been documented (Suuroja and Suuroja, 2010).
Proximal Ejecta
Distal Ejecta
Dykes
Volume of Melt
Depth of Melting

References

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Kalle Suuroja, Sten Suuroja (2000) Neugrund structure: The newly discovered submarine Early Cambrian impact crater, Impacts and the Early Earth 91, Iain Gilmour, Christian Koeberl (ed.), p. 389-416, Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York, url, doi:10.1007/BFb0027753

A Raukas (2000) Impact events in Estonia and their possible environmental consequences, Catastrophic Events and Mass Extinctions: Impacts and Beyond 1053, p. 177-178, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, TX, url

K Suuroja, K Kirsimäe, Leho Ainsaar, M Kohv, W C Mahaney, S Suuroja (2003) The Osmussaar Breccia in northwestern Estonia — Evidence of a ~ 475 Ma earthquake or an impact?, Impact Markers in the Stratigraphic Record, C Koeberl, F C Martinez-Ruiz (ed.), p. 333-347, Berlin: Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, url, doi:10.1007/978-3-642-55463-6_14

K Suuroja, S Suuroja (2004) The Neugrund meteorite crater on the seafloor of the Gulf of Finland, Estonia, Cratering in marine environments and on ice, H Dypvik, M Burchell, P Claeys (ed.), p. 75-95, Berlin: Springer-Verlag, Berlin, url, doi:10.1007/978-3-662-06423-8_5

H Dypvik, Mark J Burchell, P Claeys (2004) Impacts into marine and icy environments; a short review, Cratering in Marine Environments and on Ice, Henning Dypvik, Mark Burchell, Philippe Claeys (ed.), p. 1-20, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, url, doi:10.1007/978-3-662-06423-8_1

Jens Ormö (2004) Does the marine-target crater record reflect an increased cosmic bombardment during the Middle Ordovician?, Abstracts with Programs - Geological Society of America 36(5), p. 321-321L, Geological Society of America (GSA), Boulder, CO, url

S Suuroja, K Suuroja, A Talpas (2007) Seafloor geological survey in Estonian shelf area, Baltica 20(1-2), p. 53-58, Geologijos ir Geografijos Institutas, Vilnius, url

K Suuroja (2008) Geology and lithology of the early Palaeozoic marine impact structures Kardla and Neugrund (Estonia), Dissertationes Geologicae Universitatis Tartuensis 23, p. 1-234, Tartu: Tartu University Press, Tartu, url

Kalle Suuroja, Sten Suuroja (2010) The Neugrund meteorite crater on the seafloor of the Gulf of Finland, Estonia, Baltica 23(1), p. 47-58, Geologijos ir Geografijos Institutas, Vilnius, url

Carl Alwmark, B Schmitz, K Kirsimäe (2010) The Mid-Ordovician Osmussaar breccia in Estonia linked to the disruption of the L-chondrite parent body in the asteroid belt, Geological Society of America Bulletin 122(7-8), p. 1039-1046, Geological Society of America (GSA), Boulder, CO, url, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/B30040.1

Ü Suursaar, R Szava-Kovats, H Tõnisson (2011) Wave climate and coastal processes in the Osmussaar-Neugrund region, Baltic Sea, WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment 149, p. 99-110, WIT Press, Southampton, url, doi:10.2495/CP110091

J Plado (2012) Meteorite impact craters and possibly impact-related structures in Estonia, Meteoritics & Planetary Science 47(10), p. 1590-1605, Meteoritical Society, Fayetteville, AR, url, doi:10.1111/j.1945-5100.2012.01422.x

S Suuroja, K Suuroja, Tom Flodén (2012) Features of the marine impact structures of Neugrund and Kärdla (Baltic Sea, Estonia), 75th Annual Meteoritical Society Meeting 47(S1), p. A336-A336, url, doi:10.1111/j.1945-5100.2012.01401_2.x

S Suuroja, K Surroja, Tom Flodén (2012) Features of the dislocation zone of complex impact structures; marine impact structures Neugrund and Kardla (Baltic Sea, Estonia), Geological Survey of Finland, Guide 57 57, J Virtasalo, H Vallius (ed.), p. 82-83, Helsinki: Juvenes Print, url

S Suuroja, K Suuroja, Tom Flodén (2013) A comparative analysis of two Early Palaeozoic marine impact structures in Estonia, Baltic Sea: Neugrund and Kardla, Bulletin of the Geological Society of Finland 85(1), p. 83-101, url, doi:10.17741/bgsf/85.1.006

K Suuroja, S Suuroja, Tom Flodén (2017) The real diameter of the Neugrund impact structure (Gulf of Finland, Estonia), European Planetary Science Congress 2017 11, Riga: EPSC Abstracts, pdf

A Soesoo, S Nirgi, J Plado (2020) The evolution of the Estonian Precambrian basement: Geological, geophysical, and geochronological constraints, Proceedings of the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences(2), p. 18-23, url, doi:10.17076/geo1185

S Hietala, A M Hall, N Putkinen, E Lindsberg, M Holma (2021) Impact structures as indicators of cratonic denudation, Lithosphere 2021 - 11th Symposium on Structure, Composition, and Evolution of the Lithosphere, I Kukkonen, T Veikkolainen, S Heinonen, F Karell, E Kozlovskaya, A Luttinen, K Nikkilä, V Nykänen, M Poutanen, P Skyttä, E Tanskanen, T Tiira (ed.), p. 27-30, Helsinki: Institute of Seismology, url