Clipping

These blobs of material represent spray from melted rock that was liquefied in the impact, then rapidly cooled and hardened to form pebble-like glass objects, some the size of a pea and others as large as a golf ball, known as tektites.

The resulting tektite strewn field is one of only a handful discovered to date.

"I was very surprised!" geologist Álvaro Penteado Crósta of the University of Campinas in Brazil told ScienceAlert. "Tektites are a very rare material on Earth."

The findings were detailed in the journal Geology by a research team led by Álvaro Penteado Crósta, a geologist and senior professor at the Institute of Geosciences at the State University of Campinas (IG-UNICAMP). The project involved collaborators from Brazil, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia.

Their research is titled "Geraisite: The first tektite occurrence in Brazil," and it's published in the journal Geology. The lead author is Álvaro Crosta, a geologist and senior professor at the Institute of Geosciences at the State University of Campinas.

“This growth in the area of occurrence is entirely consistent with what is observed in other tektite fields around the world. The size of the field depends directly on the energy of the impact, among other factors,” Álvaro Penteado Crósta, a geologist and senior professor at the Institute of Geosciences at the State University of Campinas (IG-UNICAMP), said. The findings were detailed in the journal Geology. The discovery means that South America witnessed an ancient impact, something rarely seen in the history of the continent. However, the collision did not create a crater.

For millions of years, Earth’s history has been shaped by cosmic impacts, yet one ancient collision in Brazil remained hidden, until now. A recent study published in Geology has uncovered evidence of a meteorite strike that occurred 6.3 million years ago. Led by Álvaro Penteado Crósta, the discovery reveals a new field of tektites, expanding our understanding of extraterrestrial impacts and their geological influence in South America.

The findings were detailed in the journal Geology by a research team led by Álvaro Penteado Crósta, a geologist and senior professor at the Institute of Geosciences at the State University of Campinas (IG-UNICAMP). The project included collaborators from Brazil, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia.

O Instituto de Geociências (IG) da Unicamp está realizando uma   pesquisa para compreender a estrutura e o comportamento das rochas que compõem os reservatórios do pré-sal,  desenvolvida no âmbito do Centro de Inovação em Produção de Energia (EPIC) — um centro de pesquisa financiado pela Equinor e pela FAPESP, com apoio do Centro de Estudos de Energia e Petróleo (CEPETRO). O projeto está sendo coordenado pelo professor Alexandre Campane Vidal, que busca aumentar a precisão dos modelos geológicos que representam o comportamento dos reservatórios durante a produção de petróleo, reduzindo as incertezas que ainda desafiam a exploração em ambientes tão complexos quanto os carbonatos do pré-sal. 

The discovery was described in an article published in the journal Geology by a team led by Álvaro Penteado Crósta, a geologist and senior professor at the Institute of Geosciences at the State University of Campinas. Crósta collaborated with researchers from Brazil, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia.

The discovery was described in a study published in the journal “Geology.” Prof. Álvaro Penteado Crósta, a geologist at the Institute of Geosciences at the University of Campinas, led the research team, which included collaborators from Brazil, Europe, the Middle East and Australia.

The discovery was described in an article published in the journal Geology by a team led by Álvaro Penteado Crósta, a geologist and senior professor at the Institute of Geosciences at the State University of Campinas (IG-UNICAMP). Crósta collaborated with researchers from Brazil, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia.