MJOLNIR STRUCTURE - AN IMPACT CRATER IN THE BARENTS SEA

A systematic search for impact indicators was conducted on a core of L ate Jurassic-Early Cretaceous sedimentary strata from the vicinity of the proposed Mjolnir impact structure, Barents Sea, A 0.8-m-thick sect ion of the core was found to contain unequivocal indicators of meteori tic impact: shocked quartz grains and a strong enrichment in iridium, The ejecta-bearing strata were discovered only 30 km north-northeast o f the structure, within a stratigraphic interval corresponding to the seismically defined deformation event at Mjolnir. Further study of thi s unusually well preserved impact-crater-ejecta-layer pair may help co nstrain poorly understood aspects of large-magnitude meteorite impacts into the oceans.