Stop 7 at Ries

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This small abandoned quarry is hidden in a patch of trees at the southern end of the town of Polsingen. This is the only place at the Ries structure where we can see impact melt rocks as all other localities are completely overgrown by vegetation. Recent work suggests that these rocks represent a large body of impact melt that flowed outwards from the crater center. The melt then pooled and cooled, crystallizing to form impact melt rock. This is different compared to the patches of melt within suevite that we've seen at other locations (stops 3 and 4). In suevite, the melt cooled rapidly to form glass and was dispersed throughout the breccias. To learn more about impact melt rocks, click here.

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