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Stop 3 at Haughton
Shatter cones inside the Haughton structure
Photo: G. Osinski, University of Western Ontario
Location: At "Perserverance Hill", approximately 1 kilometer northwest of the peak in the central uplift
Scale: Length of the Swiss Army knife is approximately 8-10 centimeters
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Geologist Gordon Osinski talk about shatter cones High resolution MPEG-1 (11.9 Mb) Moderate resolution WMV (3.7 Mb) Low resolution WMV (1.5 Mb) |
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Panorama of the central area of Haughton High resolution MPEG-1 (7.4 Mb) Moderate resolution WMV (2.4 Mb) Low resolution WMV (945 Kb) |
In the photo above, notice how some of the rocks have distinctive groups of radiating lines or "striated fractures". These rocks are called shatter cones and provide unequivocal proof that the Haughton structure was formed by the impact of an asteroid or comet 39 Myr. ago. Shatter cones are the only unique shock deformation features that we'll see at Haughton. There are many other indicators of shock, but these require us to look at rock samples using a microscope.
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