Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Reimold, W. U. Articles by Koeberl, C. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Detailed structural analysis of the rim of a large, complex impact crater: Bosumtwi Crater, Ghana

¹ Department of Geology, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, P.O. Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa
² Institute of Geochemistry, University of Vienna, Althanstr. 14, A-1090 Vienna, Austria

The 1 Ma Bosumtwi Crater in Ghana is an 11-km-diameter, presumably complex, well-preserved impact structure that is associated with the Ivory Coast tektite strewnfield. Detailed structural geologic studies along a complete traverse through the northwestern rim section indicated four zones characterized by distinct deformation styles from just outside of the crater rim to near the crater floor. Zone 1 is dominated by thick deposits of lithic impact breccia, intercalated in places with products of local mass wasting. Zone 2 contains inward-dipping thrust planes, conjugate radial fractures, isoclinal folding, and overturned stratigraphic sequences. Zone 3 represents a megabreccia zone, in which block size decreases upward and outward toward the rim crest. The innermost zone 4 is dominated by intense thrust faulting of multiple orientations, resulting in complex duplex- and lens-shaped bodies. These deformation styles generally correspond to those previously reported from the rims of simple bowl-shaped meteorite-impact craters and appear to be characteristic of impact structures in general.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. Lana, C.R. S. Filho, Y.R. Marangoni, E. Yokoyama, R.I.F. Trindade, E. Tohver, and W.U. Reimold Insights into the morphology, geometry, and post-impact erosion of the Araguainha peak-ring structure, central Brazil Geological Society of America Bulletin, September 1, 2007; 119(9-10): 1135 - 1150. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. Lana, R. Romano, U. Reimold, and J. Hippertt Collapse of large complex impact craters: Implications from the Araguainha impact structure, central Brazil Geology, January 1, 2006; 34(1): 9 - 12. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. A. Scholz, T. Karp, K. M. Brooks, B. Milkereit, P. Y.O. Amoako, and J. A. Arko Pronounced central uplift identified in the Bosumtwi impact structure, Ghana, using multichannel seismic reflection data Geology, October 1, 2002; 30(10): 939 - 942. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]