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Evidence for an impact origin of the Late Ordovician Bear Swamp structure in upstate New York, USA
DAN LEIPHART, Chesapeake Energy Corporation

3D seismic survey has imaged a complex crater of possible impact origin in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York near Bear Swamp State Forest. The Bear Swamp crater is uppermost Ordovician (~444 Ma) in age and is completely buried in the subsurface at a depth of approximately 1220 m (4000 ft). The nearly circular crater is about 3.5 km (2.2 mi) in diameter and contains a central rebound structure with a diameter of about 1 km (0.6 mi). Two exploration wells were drilled into the crater and core and image-log data were obtained. The rst well tested the central rebound which consisted of steeply dipping beds and heavily brecciated zones as seen on the image logs. The second well tested the ank of the central uplift in the roughly 300 m (1000 ft) thick annular basin. Thin sections taken from whole core recovered in the second well revealed planar deformation features (PDF) in quartz grains within the reworked crater ll sediments. Minor gas shows were encountered at the base of the crater ll section in the second well, and both wells encountered signicant gas

shows in the fractured target rock beneath the crater. Both macroscopic and microscopic evidence from the seismic and well data suggest this could have been the site of a meteor impact in a shallow marine to transition zone environment at the end of the Ordovician Period. Introduction Impact structures, or astroblemes, are one the of rarest structures in the geologic record. Presently there are 182 conrmed impact structures on the planet with roughly two-thirds of them evident at the surface (University of New Brunswick Planetary and Space Science Centre, 2011). There has often been speculation that many more exist in the subsurface (Buthman, 1997). The elusiveness of these buried astroblemes can largely be attributed to their lack of surface expression coupled with scarce subsurface data such as 2D and 3D seismic data and drilled oil and gas wells. Because of the proprietary nature of most of these data, the possibility exists that there are

Figure 1. Regional map showing the area of the approximately 180 km2 (70 mi2) 3D seismic survey and the proposed Bear Swamp Astrobleme. The map in the lower left is a time slice through a coherency volume at 650 ms. Note the concentric rings inside the crater. The red line is the approximate location of the seismic transect shown in Figure 2 and the schematic geologic model in Figure 7.
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many known or suspected subsurface astroblemes that have not been publicly identied. One such potential impact structure has been discovered in a 3D seismic survey in the Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York (Figure 1). The primary exploration targets in this area are the uvial and deltaic sandstones of the Ordovician Queenston Formation and the structurally controlled hydrothermal dolomites of the Black River Formation. During the interpretation of the data, an anomalous circular structure was observed in the seismic coherence volume at the level of the Queenston Formation (Figure 1). This structure, at N4243.187 andW7616.637, is approximately 3.5 km (2.2 mi) in diameter at its top. It is completely buried in the subsurface at a depth of about 1220 m (4000 ft). The seismic data show a central uplift area within the crater that rises about 162 m (530 ft) above the base. Around the central uplift is an annular basin that is more than 300 m (1000 ft) thick and is characterized by synformal seismic reectors (Figure 2). In three dimensions, this structure has the appearance of a complex crater (Figure 3). The diameter and the depth-to-diameter ratio are consistent with other terrestrial complex craters of impact origin (French, 1998). The economic signicance of impact structures is well documented (Donofrio, 1997; Reimold et al., 2005). Hydrocarbons are found in or produced from 17 of the conrmed impact structures. Subsequent to the seismic interpretation, two exploration wells were drilled to test the Bear Swamp structure for hydrocarbons and to assist in conrming the impact origin theory. The Atwood 1 tested the central uplift and the Thilburg 1 tested the ank of the central uplift in the annular basin (Figure 4). Minor gas shows were encountered while drilling the Thilburg near the interpreted base of the crater at about 1540 m (5050 ft). Signicant gas shows were encountered in both wells at a depth of approximately 152 m (500 ft) below the base of the crater in the Ordovician Lorraine and Utica formations. The wells had not been completed as of this writing.

Figure 2. Arbitrary seismic transect through the 3D volume. The Queenston Formation horizon marks the unconformity at the top of the crater. The crater morphology is shown by the green horizon. The continuity of the Lockport (above) and the Trenton (below) removes the possibility of this feature being the result of either a processing artifact or of volcanic origin respectively. Note the synforms in the annular basin around the central rebound structure. The green boxes on the Thilburg wellbore represent the approximate locations of the whole cores taken within the crater ll and the subcrater sections. See Figure 1 for the location of this prole.

Figure 3. Cutout of the 3D volume with the Queenston top and base crater horizon (green horizon on Figure 2) extrapolated out to show the 3D morphology of the complex crater. Note the synformal reectors on both the inline and crossline directions in the annular basin.

Geologic context and observations The Northern Appalachian Basin was a passive margin from the latest Proterozoic until the Upper Ordovician. During this time, most of the North American craton was a broad, shallow epicontinental sea. Expansive carbonates were deposited over most of the craton until the upper Ordovician. At that time the Taconic Orogeny uplifted a mountain chain, roughly trending north-south through present-day eastern New York, and transformed the passive margin into a foreland basin. The Taconic Mountains became the sediment source for the prolic Queenston deltaic sequence toward the end of the Ordovician Period (~444 Ma).

The red shales and sandstones of the Queenston were unconformably overlain by the ne-grained marine sediments of the Silurian Medina Formation. The Medina Formation can be mapped across the crater in the 3D seismic survey as an undeformed event suggesting the crater predates the Silurian. The lack of a raised rim suggests it was removed by erosion during the unconformity which places the impact near the end of the Ordovician Period (Figure 2). Well data reveal the central uplift to consist of steeply dipping (up to 55) to chaotic beds that are heavily brecciated in zones (Figure 5d). The crater ll in the annular basin consists of alternating sequences of shallow-to-moderately dipping beds
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the top of the crater ll (Figure 5b). Near the top of the crater ll is a nearly 15 m (50 ft) thick section where visible laminae are as thin as 2 cm. Above this is a zone of bioturbation which is capped by a noted disconformity (Figure 5a). Above this disconformity lie the nearly at marine sediments of the Medina Formation. Immediately below the central uplift, bed dips gradually atten from about 40 to about 1520. This interval is about 150 m (450 ft) thick, and exhibits occasional soft-sediment deformation features (Figure 5e). Below this, the next roughly 120 m (400 ft) of sediment down to the limestone of the Trenton Formation dip fairly consistently at 510. Occasional fracturing is evident in this interval (Figure 5f).
Figure 4. Perspective view of the top Queenston seismic reector as it then follows the base of the crater (green horizon on Figure 2). Well locations are shown to visualize the areas of the crater that were tested.

(1015) and brecciated and chaotic intervals. Individual clasts within the brecciated zones can range up to 1 m (~3 ft) in diameter (Figure 5c). These chaotic and brecciated zones continue up nearly 275 m (900 ft) above the base of the crater in the annular basin. Photomicrographs taken from whole core recovered in this crater ll section of the Thilburg well revealed the presence of planar deformation features (PDF) in some quartz grains (Figure 6). Image-log data in both wells show an overall thinning and attening of the sediment layers toward

Interpretation Observations of seismic and well data are consistent with a shallow marine-to-transition zone impact origin for the Bear Swamp crater (Figure 7). The Queenston sediments of the target rock in and around this area consist of red shales and sandstones and are interpreted as uvial and deltaic to shallow marine. Additionally, there appears to be evidence of some soft-sediment deformation features on the image logs just below the crater base. Below that, the deformation continues in the form of fractures. This implies that the target sediments at the time of impact were still not completely lithied. Similar environments have been the targets of meteor impacts in other parts of the world. In the Ordovician Krdla astrobleme on Hiiumaa Island, Estonia, more than half of the

Figure 5. Sample images from the FMI image logs taken in both wells. From top to bottom: (a) The unconformity at the top of the Ordovician section marking the boundary between the crater ll and the overlying Silurian marine sediments of the Medina Formation. Note the bioturbation just below the unconformity (Thilburg). (b) Thinly laminated (~2 cm), nearly horizontal layers near the top of the crater ll above the impact related sediments (Atwood). (c) Heavily brecciated crater-ll section showing individual clasts of at least 1 m (~3 ft) in diameter (Thilburg). (d) Chaotic and heavily brecciated zones in the central uplift (Atwood). (e) Soft-sediment deformation features just beneath the crater base (Atwood). (f ) Representative fractures in the subcrater section within the Lorraine/Utica Formations (Atwood). Depths are measured in feet.
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Figure 6. Photomicrographs of PDFs in quartz grains in the Thilburg 1 core (see Figure 2) at (a) 4806.7 ft, (b) 4825.52 ft, (c) 4839.8 ft, and (d) 4849.4 ft. Note in (d) the blocky extinction is caused by metamorphosis of subcrystals within the grain. The PDFs crosscut the subcrystals, indicating an impact event after the metamorphosis of the grain.

Figure 7. Geologic model of the Bear Swamp structure showing crater morphology based on interpreted 3D seismic data, and geologic interpretation based on well and seismic data as well as analogous conrmed astroblemes. Patterns within the impact-related sediments indicate zones of chaotic and brecciated sediments. This model follows the line of section in Figure 2.

nearly 500 m of crater ll is characterized as shallow marine impact-related deposits (Suuroja et al., 2002). These consist of slumpback, fallback and resurge breccias, and turbidites which were the result of intense wave action (tsunamis) in the moments after impact. Other relatively shallow marine impacts such as Montagnais (Nova Scotia, Canada), Mjlnir (Barents Sea, Norway), Neugrund (Gulf of Finland, Estonia), and Tvren (Tvren Bay, Sweden) show similar depositional elements in the crater ll section (Dypvik and Jansa, 2003). Similarities exist in the Bear Swamp crater (Figure 7) where chaotic and brecciated zones are evident on the image logs nearly up to the top of the crater ll section. Boulder-sized clasts, some measuring up to 1 m (~3 ft) in diameter, were
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deposited up to 275 m (900 ft) above the base of the crater indicating this thick column of sediments was lain down relatively quickly in a high energy environment. The main agents of deposition in this environment would have been gravity slumps from the unstable walls of the crater and wave surges as the shallow sea equilibrated and returned to its pre-impact state. The sediments deposited in those conditions are here interpreted as impact-related. It is within these reworked impactrelated sediments that PDFs were observed in some individual quartz grains (Figure 6). These features are typically considered diagnostic evidence of an impact, as no known endogenic geologic process is capable of producing them (French, 2005). Above these impact-related sediments is an interval of thin

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(approximately 2 cm) and nearly horizontal laminae that resemble varved sediments in Quaternary lakes including the 1.07 Ma impact structure at Lake Bosumtwi in Ghana (Shanahan et al., 2006). At the top of the crater ll is a 20 cm (8 in) thick interval which appears to contain burrows. Directly above this bioturbated interval is the surface of the unconformity at the end of the Ordovician which forms the base of the Silurian marine transgression. The lack of a competent target rock and evidence of intense wave surges may be the primary reason for the absence of a raised rim around the structure (Dypvik and Jansa, 2003). Any remnant of a rim likely was eroded during the unconformity at which time this may have been the site of a subaerially exposed crater lake as interpreted from the varve-like layers at the top of the crater ll. Conclusion Geophysical and geologic data have revealed a proposed buried meteor impact structure near Bear Swamp State Forest in upstate New York. Seismic data have imaged the nearly circular crater which has similar dimensions and morphological characteristics with those of other complex craters formed by bolide impacts. Well-log and core data reveal sedimentation patterns that have likewise been observed in analogous conrmed impact structures. Additionally, PDFs found in quartz grains in the interpreted impact-related sediments provide microscopic evidence of an impact event. Based on all the observable data, this impact occurred near the end of the Ordovician Period (~444 Ma) in a shallow marine to transition zone environment.
References
Buthman, D. B., 1997, Global hydrocarbon potential of impact structures, in K. S. Johnson, and J. A. Campbell, eds., Ames Structure in northwest Oklahoma and similar features: Origin and Petroleum Production (1995 Symposium): Oklahoma Geological Society Circular, 100, 8399.

Donofrio, R. R., 1997, Survey of hydrocarbon-producing impact structures in North America: Exploration results to date and potential for discovery in Precambrian basement rock, in K. S. Johnson, and J. A. Campbell, eds., Ames structure in northwest Oklahoma and similar features: Origin and Petroleum Production (1995 Symposium): Oklahoma Geological Society Circular, 100, 1729. Dypvik, H. and L. F. Jansa, 2003, Sedimentary signatures and processes during marine bolide impacts: a review: Sedimentary Geology, 161, 309337. French, B. M., 1998, Traces of catastrophe; a handbook of shock-metamorphic eects in terrestrial meteorite impact structures: LPI Contribution No. 954, Lunar and Planetary Institute. French, B. M., 2005, Impacts in the eld: Impact Field Studies Group, volume 2, Winter 2005, 310. Reimold, W. U., C. Koeberl, R. L. Gibson, and B. O. Dressler, 2005, Economic mineral deposits in impact structures: A review, in C. Koeberl, and H. Henkel, eds., Impact tectonics: Impact Studies, volume 6, 479552. Shanahan, T. M., J. T. Overpeck, C. W. Wheeler, J. W. Beck, J. S. Pigati, M. R. Talbot, C. A. Scholz, J. Peck, and J. W. King, 2006, Paleoclimatic variations in West Africa from a record of late Pleistocene and Holocene lake level stands of Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana: Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology, 242, 287302. Suuroja, K., S. Suuroja, T. All, and T. Floden, 2002, Krdla (Hiiumaa Island, Estonia)the buried and well-preserved Ordovician marine impact structure: Deep-Sea Research II, 49, 11211144. University of New Brunswick Planetary and Space Science Centre, 2010, http://www.passc.net/EarthImpactDatabase/index.html, accessed December 14, 2011.

Acknowledgments: I thank Chesapeake Energy Corporation for the release of the proprietary seismic, log, and thin-section images. Corresponding author: dan.leiphart@chk.com

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