Chicxulub impact ejecta from Albion Island, Belize

Impact ejecta from the Albion Formation are exposed in northern Belize. The ejecta come from the outer portion of the continuous ejecta blanket of the Chicxulub crater, which is located 360 km to the northwest. The basal unit of the Albion Formation is a 3⁄41-m-thick clay and dolomite spheroid bed composed of up to four discrete flows. The clay spheroids are altered impact glass, and the dolomite spheroids are accretionary lapilli. The upper unit is a 3⁄415-m-thick coarse diamictite bed containing altered glass, large accretionary blocks, striated, polished, and impacted cobbles, and rare shocked quartz. The abundance of accretionary clasts, evidence for atmospheric drag sorting, and the presence of multiple flows in the Albion Formation indicate that atmospheres play an important role in the formation of the outer portions of continuous ejecta blankets of large craters.  1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.