U-PB AGES OF SINGLE SHOCKED ZIRCONS LINKING DISTAL K T EJECTA TO THE CHICXULUB CRATER/

MANY lines of evidence now support the identification of the Chicxulub structure, in Mexico, as a buried impact crater and the probable sour ce of ejecta found in Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) boundary sections worl dwide1-8. The question remains, however, of whether there might be add itional craters of K/T age, which also contributed ejecta. Shocked zir cons from a K/T ejecta layer in Colorado9 preserve a primary source ag e of 545 +/- 5 Myr, with variable degrees of isotopic resetting consis tent with partial lead loss at the time of impact (65 Myr ago)10. Here we report that the impact breccia from Chicxulub contains zircons tha t are identical in age, texture and lead loss pattern to the Colorado zircons, and to some from the Beloc section in Haiti. U-Pb data for 18 of the 36 grains studied (from all three sites) fall on a single line as well as if they had come from a single sample. An additional sourc e age of 418 +/- 6 Myr is found only in Chicxulub and Haiti, suggestin g that the Haiti and Colorado ejecta might have sampled different part s of the target stratigraphy. As an the ejecta ages found so far are a lso found at Chicxulub, our results are consistent with this being the only significant continental K/T impact crater.