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An approach towards the projectile trajectory during the oblique Steinheim meteorite impact by the interpretation of structural crater features and the distribution of shatter cones

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 September 2017

E. BUCHNER
E. BUCHNER*
Affiliation:
HNU - Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences, Wileystraße 1, D-89231 Neu-Ulm, Germany Institut für Mineralogie und Kristallchemie, Universität Stuttgart, Azenbergstraße 18, D-70174 Stuttgart, Germany
*
*Author for correspondence: elmar.buchner@hs-neu-ulm.de
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Abstract

The distinct alignment of the Steinheim Basin and the Nördlinger Ries impact structures in SW Germany and the Central European tektite strewn field suggest ENE-directed trajectories of the Ries and Steinheim impacting bodies. From impact experiments, the asymmetry of the Steinheim crater and the arrangement of structural features therein are in good agreement with features produced during an oblique impact at 30° from the horizontal. The restriction of shatter cones to the eastern segment of the Steinheim Basin crater also suggests a west–east-directed trend of the impact direction, and supports previous models that favoured such impactor trajectory.

Keywords

Steinheim Basinshatter conesoblique impactimpact trajectory
Type
Rapid Communication
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 155 , Issue 1 , January 2018 , pp. 193 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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