Impact Melt Rock

EDUCATORS!  Click here to submit a request to borrow an impact rock kit which includes this impact rock

Impact melt rocks are basically volcanic rocks, such as basalt lava, and they attest to the extreme conditions generated by the impact event. Pressures and temperatures in the target rocks surrounding the point where the asteroid or comet hits are so high that large volumes or rock can be instantaneously melted. Pieces of this melt can cool rapidly to form glass and be incorporated in suevites. However, so much melt is produced sometimes that it forms a pool in the central parts of an impact crater to form crater-fill deposits. This pool of melt then cools slowly over time and solidifies to form a new rock, an impact melt rock. An impact melt rock typically contains only a few fragments of target rock, and up to 25% fragments in extreme cases. If the melt contains a lot of fragments of target rock, it is then classified as an impact melt breccia. Impact melt rocks can be found in crater-fill deposits and in ejecta deposits of impact structures.

See impact melt rocks in the Ries impact structure