SUEVITE AT THE ROTER-KAMM IMPACT CRATER, NAMIBIA

A small area littered with loose decimeter-sized fragments of glass an d melt fragment-bearing suevite has been discovered on the western rim of the Roter Kamm impact crater in southern Namibia. The clast popula tion and results of major and trace element chemical analyses are cons istent with this breccia having been formed from granitoid basement li thologies only, without contribution from the metasedimentary Gariep a nd Cenozoic cover sequences. It is assumed that the limited amount of impact melt observed in the Roter Kamm structure could be the result o f melt dissipation due to explosive shock-induced devolatilization of the significant marble component of the Gariep supracrustal cover. Pre servation of very limited remnants of impact breccia on the rim of the Poter Kamm crater suggests a relatively deep level of erosion of the crater rim.