A long-lived impact-generated hydrothermal system at the Chicxulub impact structure

Abstract Hydrothermal systems likely played an essential role in the origin of life, both on Earth and potentially on other planets. They form anywhere that heat and aqueous fluids interact, including within cooling hypervelocity impact craters. Longer periods of hydrothermal activity will generate extended windows of opportunity for prebiotic chemical reactions to occur, life to develop, and micro-organisms to thrive and propagate beyond their point of origin. Here, we present radioisotopic age constraints and numerical simulations for the duration of post-impact hydrothermal activity in and around the peak ring of the ~200 km diameter 66 Ma Chicxulub impact structure. We find that hydrothermal activity persisted for at least 8 million years (Myr), which is approximately four times longer than previously estimated by numerical simulations, palaeomagnetic records, and petrographic interpretations at Chicxulub, making it the longest-lived impact generated hydrothermal system documented on Earth.

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Publication Details

Journal
Communications Earth & Environment
Published
2026-06-09
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03618-5
Primary Topic
Planetary Science and Exploration
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

A long-lived impact-generated hydrothermal system at the Chicxulub impact structure

Kazuhisa Goto, The Expedition Scientists, Chris Lowery, Marissa M. Tremblay et al.
Communications Earth & Environment
Planetary Science and Exploration
article

A long-lived impact-generated hydrothermal system at the Chicxulub impact structure

Kazuhisa Goto, The Expedition Scientists, Chris Lowery, Marissa M. Tremblay, M. Schmieder, Honami Sato, Cornelia Rasmussen, Elise Chenot, Martin Lee, Ross C. Dymock, Dan N. Barfod, J. Morgan, Jaime Urrutia Fucugauchi, Auriol S. P. Rae, D. A. Kring, S. P. S. Gulick, W. Zylberman, Ulrich Riller, Darren F. Mark, R. Ocampo, Heather Jones, Charles Cockell, Ludovic Ferrière, Catalina Gebhardt, Jan Smit, Mario Rebolledo-Vieyra, Gail Christeson, Naotaka Tomioka, Marco Coolen, Evangelos Christou, Timothy Bralower, Timothy Swindle, Sonia M. Tikoo, Kosei Yamagachi, Philippe Claeys, Michael Whalen, Michael Poelchau, Xiao Long, Annemarie E. Pickersgill, Gordon R. Osinski, Ligia Perez-Cruz, Axel Wittmann, Gareth S. Collins
article en

Abstract

Abstract Hydrothermal systems likely played an essential role in the origin of life, both on Earth and potentially on other planets. They form anywhere that heat and aqueous fluids interact, including within cooling hypervelocity impact craters. Longer periods of hydrothermal activity will generate extended windows of opportunity for prebiotic chemical reactions to occur, life to develop, and micro-organisms to thrive and propagate beyond their point of origin. Here, we present radioisotopic age constraints and numerical simulations for the duration of post-impact hydrothermal activity in and around the peak ring of the ~200 km diameter 66 Ma Chicxulub impact structure. We find that hydrothermal activity persisted for at least 8 million years (Myr), which is approximately four times longer than previously estimated by numerical simulations, palaeomagnetic records, and petrographic interpretations at Chicxulub, making it the longest-lived impact generated hydrothermal system documented on Earth.

Communications Earth & EnvironmentVol. 7(1)
Western University (CA), Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (DE), Natural History Museum Vienna (AT), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Toho University (JP), Planetary Science Institute (US), Pennsylvania State University (US), U.S. National Science Foundation (US), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JP), Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (NL), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (BE), Kyushu University (JP), University of Arizona (US), University of Alaska Fairbanks (US), Sofradir (France) (FR), Universität Hamburg (DE), University of Freiburg (DE), University of St Andrews (GB), Curtin University (AU), Purdue University West Lafayette (US), China University of Geosciences (CN), Institut de Chimie de Strasbourg (FR), Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie de l'Atmosphère (FR), Planetary Systems (United States) (US), Centre Hospitalier de Beauvais (FR), Ingeniería y Soluciones Informáticas (Spain) (ES), Maxwell Institute for Mathematical Sciences (GB), Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences (DE), Funabashi Orthopaedic Hospital (JP), Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (GB), Imperial College London (GB), Arizona State University (US), Lunar and Planetary Institute (US), The University of Tokyo (JP), University of Glasgow (GB), The University of Texas at Austin (US), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (MX), Stanford University (US), University of Edinburgh (GB)
Texas AgriLife Research, Leverhulme Trust, University of Glasgow, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, College of Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Natural Environment Research Council, Science and Technology Facilities Council
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Planetary Science and Exploration
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