PSEUDOTACHYLITE BRECCIA OF THE MUSGRAVE PROVINCE, AUSTRALIA

Pseudotachylite breccias from disparate locations in the Musgrave Province were collected for study. The expedition team hiked to locations 40km, 60km and 100km from a proposed impact site, known as MAPCIS, and collected 2kg to 5kg samples that contain pseudotachylite breccia. The samples were initially sliced in Coober Pedy and Adelaide and were later verified as pseudotachylite breccia, by both Actlabs Ltd. and Applied Petrographic Services Inc. We attempt to put these pseudotachylite breccias into context of a possible impact and compare the geomorphology to pseudotachylite breccias of the Vredefort structure, South Africa.

Although pseudotachylite breccias in central Australia are not rare and are contained within the largest known deposits on Earth, they are relatively unknown and unstudied. Portions of these samples were donated to the Australian Museum, Sydney, the South Australian Museum, Adelaide and the Queensland Museum, Brisbane. These samples were the first of their kind in each museum collection. We hope to stimulate further research in this area and work to towards more precise dating of the pseudotachylite breccias.