Pantasma

Last updated

Pantasma is a region in the north of Nicaragua. In the Miskito language the word Pantasma means small humans or flat head. The Spanish word Fantasma (Galician: Pantasma ) origins from the Greek Phantasma and means ghost.

Contents

The Valle de Pantasma, also called the "Crater of Pantasma", is a circular valley over 12 km in diameter situated in Nicaragua. It is passed by the Rio Pantasma, a tributary of the Rio Coco (also called Rio Segovia). In its center lies the village of Las Praderas, the principal place of the community of Santa Maria de Pantasma with about 40,000 inhabitants in the province of Jinotega. In the poor, but fertile and agricultural intensely used valley corn, grain, fruit, and coffee are cultivated and cattle is bred.

The town is the site of one of the most famous actions of the civil war between the Sandinista government and the rebel Contras. On October 18, 1983, the Nicaraguan Democratic Force's Task Force Diriangén, under Comandante "Mike Lima," launched a surprise attack on the town, overrunning a battalion headquarters, detonating a munitions depot, robbing a state bank, and destroying a police station, a school, and all other government offices and facilities, leaving 47 defenders and residents dead. The assault was condemned as a "criminal action" by the Nicaraguan Ambassador to the United Nations in a letter to the UN Security Council, calling it "barbaric and inhumane" and is still seen as a symbol of Contra atrocities. [1]

Impact crater hypothesis

Some have hypothesized that the crater at Pantasma was formed when a large meteorite struck into the Tertiary effusive layers of the volcanic mountains in the north of Nicaragua. [2] [3] The circular shape of the crater, the skew of its floor according to the spacious mountain slope and its apparently arbitrary situation supports the thesis of a meteorite impact. A central uplift is missing or may already be covered with sediments. An ejection ring is not recognizable clearly in the rough landscape. The size and the shape of the crater are similar to the 10 km large and about one million years old crater of Lake Bosumtwi in Ghana.

In 2011, Povenmire et al. suggested that Central America is home to a tektite strewn field centered around Pantasma. The authors estimated the Central American strewn field to encompass portions of Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Belize, and southern Mexico. [4] A 2019 study reported evidence for an impact origin of Pantasma, including the presence of melt-bearing breccia, impact glasses containing lechatelierite, coesite, the high-pressure silicon dioxide polymorph coesite, and extraterrestrial chromium isotope ratios. [5] Argon dating of impact glasses suggests a crater age of kyr, [5] which is consistent with the age of impact-produced tektites in Belize, 530 km from Pantasma. The impact hypothesis is further supported by measurements showing that the elemental and isotopic compositions of Belize tektites match the composition of material from Pantasma. [6] In 2022, Koeberl et al. emphasized that while the composition of Belize glasses could be consistent with an impact origin, the geochemical evidence is not conclusive; based on chemistry alone, a volcanic origin is also plausible. However, their low water content, presence of lechatelierite, and absence of crystalline phases indicate that the Belize glasses were formed by an impact. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impact crater</span> Circular depression in a solid astronomical body formed by the impact of a smaller object

An impact crater is a depression in the surface of a solid astronomical body formed by the hypervelocity impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal collapse, impact craters typically have raised rims and floors that are lower in elevation than the surrounding terrain. Impact craters are typically circular, though they can be elliptical in shape or even irregular due to events such as landslides. Impact craters range in size from microscopic craters seen on lunar rocks returned by the Apollo Program to simple bowl-shaped depressions and vast, complex, multi-ringed impact basins. Meteor Crater is a well-known example of a small impact crater on Earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nördlinger Ries</span> Meteorite impact crater in Bavaria, Germany

The Nördlinger Ries is an impact crater and large circular depression in western Bavaria and eastern Baden-Württemberg. It is located north of the Danube in the district of Donau-Ries. The city of Nördlingen is located within the depression, about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) south-west of its centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tektite</span> Gravel-sized glass beads formed from meteorite impacts

Tektites are gravel-sized bodies composed of black, green, brown or grey natural glass formed from terrestrial debris ejected during meteorite impacts. The term was coined by Austrian geologist Franz Eduard Suess (1867–1941), son of Eduard Suess. They generally range in size from millimetres to centimetres. Millimetre-scale tektites are known as microtektites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amguid crater</span> Meteorite crater in Algeria

Amguid is a meteorite crater in Algeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kentland crater</span> Impact structure in Indiana, United States

The Kentland structure, also known as the Kentland crater or the Kentland disturbed area, is an impact structure located near the town of Kentland in Newton County, Indiana, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Lappajärvi</span> Impact crater lake in Finland

Lappajärvi is a lake in Finland, in the municipalities of Lappajärvi, Alajärvi and Vimpeli. It is formed in a 23 km (14 mi) wide, partly eroded meteorite impact crater. The lake is part of Ähtävänjoki basin together with Lake Evijärvi that is located downstream (north) of it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Popigai impact structure</span> Impact crater in Siberia, Russia

The Popigai impact structure is the eroded remnant of an impact crater in northern Siberia, Russia. It is tied with the Manicouagan structure as the fourth largest verified impact structure on Earth. A large bolide impact created the 100-kilometre (62 mi) diameter crater approximately 35 million years ago during the late Eocene epoch. It might be linked to the Eocene–Oligocene extinction event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rochechouart impact structure</span> Asteroid impact structure in France

Rochechouart impact structure or Rochechouart astrobleme is an impact structure in France. Erosion has over the millions of years mostly destroyed its impact crater, the initial surface expression of the asteroid impact leaving highly deformed bedrock and fragments of the crater's floor as evidence of it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roter Kamm crater</span> Meteorite crater in the Namibian section of the Namib Desert

Roter Kamm is a meteorite crater, located in the Sperrgebiet, within the Namibian section of the Namib Desert, approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Oranjemund and 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) southwest of Aurus Mountain in the ǁKaras Region. The crater is 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) in diameter and is 130 metres (430 ft) deep. The age is estimated at 4.81 ± 0.5 Ma, placing it in the Pliocene. The crater is exposed at the surface, but its original floor is covered by sand deposits at least 100 metres (330 ft) thick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tswaing crater</span> Impact crater in South Africa

Tswaing is an impact crater enclosed by a 1,946 ha nature reserve, situated in northern Gauteng province, South Africa. The crater and reserve are situated on a base of ancient granite of the Bushveld Igneous Complex, some 40 km to the north-northwest of Pretoria. This astrobleme is 1.13 km in diameter and 100 m deep and its age is estimated to be 220,000 ± 52,000 years (Pleistocene). The impactor is believed to have been a chondrite or stony meteorite some 30 to 50 m in diameter that was vaporised during the impact event. Morokweng impact structure, another South African crater of chondrite origin, lies north-west of Vryburg. Since 1996 it falls under the auspices of Ditsong Museums of South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Bosumtwi</span> Crater lake in Ghana

Lake Bosumtwi is the only natural lake in Ghana. It is situated within an ancient impact crater that is about 10.5 kilometres (6.5 mi) in diameter. It is about 30 km (19 mi) south-east of Kumasi, the capital of Ashanti, and is a popular recreational area. There are about 30 villages near the crater lake of Lake Bosumtwi, with a combined population of about 70,000. The most popular amongst the villages where tourists usually settle is Abono.

John Aloysius O'Keefe III was an expert in planetary science and astrogeology with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from 1958 to 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moldavite</span> Green natural glass possibly formed by a meteorite impact

Moldavite is a forest green, olive green or blue greenish vitreous silica projectile glass formed by a meteorite impact in southern Germany that occurred about 15 million years ago. It is a type of tektite and a gemstone. Material ejected from the impact crater includes moldavite, which was strewn across parts of Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Libyan desert glass</span> Desert glass found in Libya and Egypt

Libyan desert glass or Great Sand Sea glass is an impactite, made mostly of lechatelierite, found in areas in the eastern Sahara, in the deserts of eastern Libya and western Egypt. Fragments of desert glass can be found over areas of tens of square kilometers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bediasite</span> Form of tektite

Bediasite is a form or type of tektite, which is a body of natural glass formed from earth debris during meteorite impact events. It originates in an area in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas centered on the small town of Bedias which is 74 miles (119 km) north west of Houston. They are found in about nine Texas Counties in an area of over 7,000 square miles (18,000 km2). The largest specimen ever found is just over 7.1 ounces (200 g).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australasian strewnfield</span> Strewnfield containing most of Australasia

The Australasian strewnfield is the youngest and largest of the tektite strewnfields, with recent estimates suggesting it might cover 10%–30% of the Earth's surface. Research indicates that the impact forming the tektites occurred around 788,000 years ago, most likely in Southeast Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australite</span>

Australites are tektites found in Australia. They are mostly dark or black, and have shapes including discs and bowls that are not seen in other tektites. NASA used the shape of "flanged button" australites in designing re-entry modules for the Apollo program in the 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian Koeberl</span> Austrian geologist

Christian Köberl is a professor of impact research and planetary geology at the University of Vienna, Austria. From June 2010 to May 2020 he was director general of the Natural History Museum in Vienna. He is best known for his research on meteorite impact craters.

References

  1. ↑ https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/56911?v=pdf
  2. ↑ Rochette, P. (2017). "CONNECTING THE PANTASMA (NICARAGUA) AND BELIZE IMPACT GLASSES: TOWARD A FOURTH COUPLE CRATER AND TEKTITE STREWN-FIELD? 80th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society Abstract #6018" (PDF).
  3. ↑ Rochette, P. (2016). "FIRST INVESTIGATIONS ON THE PANTASMA STRUCTURE (NICARAGUA). 79th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society Abstract #6128" (PDF).
  4. ↑ Povenmire, H. (2011). "THE NEW CENTRAL AMERICAN TEKTITE STREWN FIELD. 42nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference Abstract #1224" (PDF).
  5. 1 2 Rochette, P.; Alaç, R.; Beck, P.; Brocard, G.; Cavosie, A. J.; Debaille, V.; Devouard, B.; Jourdan, F.; Mougel, B.; Moustard, F.; Moynier, F. (April 2019). "Pantasma: Evidence for a Pleistocene circa 14 km diameter impact crater in Nicaragua". Meteoritics & Planetary Science. 54 (4): 880–901. doi:10.1111/maps.13244. ISSN   1086-9379. S2CID   134503127.
  6. ↑ Rochette, Pierre; Beck, Pierre; Bizzarro, Martin; Braucher, Régis; Cornec, Jean; Debaille, Vinciane; Devouard, Bertrand; Gattacceca, Jérôme; Jourdan, Fred; Moustard, Fabien; Moynier, Frédéric (December 2021). "Impact glasses from Belize represent tektites from the Pleistocene Pantasma impact crater in Nicaragua". Communications Earth & Environment. 2 (1): 94. doi:10.1038/s43247-021-00155-1. ISSN   2662-4435. PMC   7611520 . PMID   34409303.
  7. ↑ Koeberl, Christian; Glass, Billy P.; Schulz, Toni; Wegner, Wencke; Giuli, Gabriele; Cicconi, Maria Rita; Trapananti, Angela; Stabile, Paola; Cestelli-Guidi, Mariangela; Park, Jisun; Herzog, Gregory F. (May 2022). "Tektite glasses from Belize, Central America: Petrography, geochemistry, and search for a possible meteoritic component". Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 325: 232–257. doi: 10.1016/j.gca.2022.02.021 . hdl: 11581/470415 . S2CID   247063391.

13°22′N85°57′W / 13.367°N 85.950°W / 13.367; -85.950

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.