United States Meteorite Impact Craters

The Chesapeake Bay crater is an 85 km impact structure formed during the late Eocene, about 35.4 million years ago.  The target region was on the marine continental shelf at the time of impact, and most of the region is still or again underwater today.  It is one of the largest known impact craters on Earth.  Despite the fact that the structure is deeply buried, it is one of the better studied impact craters in the United States, through drilling and geophysical survey.  A major project by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program and U.S. Geological Survey explored the site between 2003 and 2006.  Much of the work was summarized in a major volume, Gohn et al. (eds.), 2009.

Timing of the impact is relatively well constrained by multiple studies, to 35.3 to 35.4 Ma (e.g.: Horton and Izett, 2005; Pusz et al., 2009).  The size of the crater is constrained in Plescia et al. (2009) to about 85 km diameter, with a ~40 km diameter central uplift.

The Chesapeake Bay impact structure is associated with the North American tektite strewn field.

Evidence of Impact Origin

The impact origin of each location listed on this website has been supported by unambiguous diagnostic evidence of hypervelocity impact that has been reported in a scientific (usually peer reviewed) context.  Without such evidence, a geological structure is not a confirmed impact crater.  This section, which is included for each crater on this website, is not an exhaustive list of such published evidence, but is meant to demonstrate that appropriate work has been done for each listing.

Horton, J.W., Jr., and Izett, G.A., 2005; Horton et al., 2009; Bartosova et al., 2009; Vanko, 2009.

Nature of diagnostic evidence:

• planar deformation features in quartz (up to 5 sets); ballen quartz; impactor components in target materials.

Other significant evidence: breccias, impact melts, detailed morphology and mapping, platinum group element enrichment, associated tektites, magnetic and gravity anomalies, detailed petrology and petrography.

Bibliography and References:

(If links to articles don't work, don't give up. Try pasting the link shown into a search engine or searching for the article authors, title, or other reference information.  If your research leads you to additional scientific references related to this crater, please help improve this resource by sending a note with the new citation(s) to: )

Bartosova K., Ferrie´re L., Koeberl C., Reimold W. U., and Gier S. (2009) Petrographic and shock metamorphic studies of the impact breccia section (1397–1551 m depth) of the Eyreville drill core, Chesapeake Bay impact structure, USA. In The ICDP-USGS Deep Drilling Project in the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure: Results from the Eyreville core holes, edited by Gohn G. S., Koeberl C., Miller K. G., and Reimold W. U. GSA Special Paper 458. Boulder, Colorado: Geological Society of America. pp. 317–348.

Collins G. S., Wünnemann K. (2005) How big was the Chesapeake Bay impact? Insight from numerical modeling. Geology, Volume.33, Dec., pp. 925-928, doi:10.1130/G21854.1

Crawford D. A. (2002) A computational model of the Chesapeake Bay impact (abstract 204-2) Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado, Abstracts with Programs 34:A465.

Deutsch A., Koeberl C. (2006) Establishing the Link Between the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure and the North American Tektite Strewn Field: The Sr-Nd Isotopic Evidence. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, Volume 41, Issue 5, pp. 689-703. doi: 10.1111/j.1945-5100.2006.tb00985.x

Edwards L. E., J. W. Horton, Jr., and G. S. Gohn. "ICDP-USGS Workshop on Deep Drilling in the Central Crater of the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure, Virginia, USA: Proceedings volume." Reston, Virginia: U.S. Geological Survey, open-file report 2004-1016.

or

Edwards L. E., Powars D. S. (2003) Impact Damage to Dinocysts from the Late Eocene Chesapeake Bay Event. PALAIOS, Volume 18, No. 3, pp. 275-285.

Elbra T., Kontny A., Pesonen L. J. (2009) Rock magnetic properties of the ICDP-USGS Eyreville core, Chesapeake Bay impact structure, USA. In The ICDP-USGS Deep Drilling Project in the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure: Results from the Eyreville core holes, edited by Gohn G. S., Koeberl C., Miller K. G., and Reimold W. U. GSA Special Paper 458. Boulder, Colorado: Geological Society of America. pp. 119–136.



Emry, S. R., and B. Miller. "Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure - 35 Million Years After - and Still Making An Impact." In Edwards, L. E., Horton, J. W., Jr., and Gohn, G. S., 2004, ICDP-USGS Workshop on Deep Drilling in the Central Crater of the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure, Virginia, USA, September 22-24, 2003: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2004-1016, CD-ROM.

Gibson R. L., Townsend N. G., Horton J. W. Jr.,, Reimold W. U. (2009) Pre-impact tectonothermal evolution of the crystalline basement-derived rocks in the ICDP-USGS Eyreville B core, Chesapeake Bay impact structure. In The ICDP-USGS Deep Drilling Project in the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure: Results from the Eyreville core holes, edited by Gohn G. S., Koeberl C., Miller K. G., and Reimold W. U. GSA Special Paper 458. Boulder, Colorado: Geological Society of America. pp. 235–255.

Gohn G. S., Koeberl C., Miller K. G., Riemold W. U., Browning J. V., Cockell C. S., Horton Jr, J. W., Kenkman T., Kulpecz A. A., Powars D. S., Sanford W. E., Voytek M. A. (2008) Deep drilling into the Chesapeake Bay impact structure, Science, Volume 320, Issue 5884, pp. 1740–1745, doi:10.1126/science.1158708.

Gohn S. G., Koeberl C., Miller K. G., Reimold W. U. (2009) Deep drilling in the Chesapeake Bay impact structure—An overview. In The ICDP-USGS Deep Drilling Project in the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure: Results from the Eyreville core holes, edited by Gohn G. S., Koeberl C., Miller K. G., Reimold W. U. Geological Society of America Special Paper 458. Boulder, Colorado. pp. 1–20.

Griscom D. L. (2001) Possible identification of proximal ejecta from the Upper-Eocene Chesapeake Bay crater (abstract), European Science Foundation: Impact Programme, 6th ESF-IMPACT Workshop, Granada, Spain, 35.

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Griscom D. L. (2002) Is Washington DC built on ejecta deposits of the upper-Eocene Chesapeake Bay Crater? (abstract), European Science Foundation: Impact Programme, ESF-IMPACT Workshop, 9th, Prague, Czechoslovakia, 23.

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Griscom D. L. (2007) Chesapeake Bay crater ejecta are alive and well and living in Maryland. Virginia, and the District of Columbia ...disguised as ?5000 km2 of “upland deposits”, Geological Society of America Wetumpka Field Forum 2007 Guidebook and Abstracts, 85.

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Griscom D. L. (2012) In plain sight: the Chesapeake Bay crater ejecta blanket, Solid Earth Discuss., Volume 4, pp. 363-428, doi:10.5194/sed-4-363-2012.

Griscom D. L., Akiyoshi A., Homae T., Kondo K., Yamanaka C., Ueno T., Ikeya M., Affatigato M., Schue A. (2003) Fossil natural glasses composed of ferric oxyhydroxides: Impactites of the 35.5 million year old Chesapeake Bay crater. Journal Non-Crystalline Solids, Volume 323, Issues 1-3, pp. 7–26, doi:10.1016/S0022-3093(03)00304-1.

Horton, J. W., Jr., J. N. Aleinikoff, M. J. Kunk, G. S. Gohn, L. E. Edwards, J. M. Self-Trail, D. S. Powars, and G. S. Izett. "Recent Research on the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure, USA - Impact Debris and Reworked Ejecta." In Large Meteorite Impacts III: Geological Society of America Special Paper 384, 2005a, pp. 147-170. Edited by T. Kenkmann, F. Hörz, and A. Deutsch.

Horton Jr. J. W., Aleinikoff J. N., Kunk M. J., Naeser C. W., Naeser N. D. (2005) Petrography, structure, age, and thermal history of granitic Coastal Plain basement in the: Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure, USGS-NASA Langley core, Hampton, Virginia, in Studies of the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure – The USGS-NASA Langley Corehole, Hampton, Virginia, and related coreholes and geological surveys, edited by: Horton Jr, J. W., Powars, D. S., and Gohn, G. S., B1–B29, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1688.

Horton, J. W., Jr., G. S. Gohn, J. C. Jackson, J. N. Aleinikoff, W. E. Sanford, L. E. Edwards, and D. S. Powars. Results from a Scientific Test Hole in the Central Uplift, Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure, Virginia, USA [Abstract]: Lunar and Planetary Science Conference XXXVI, Abstract 2003, 2005c, p. 2.

Horton Jr. J. W., Gohn G. S., Powars D. S., Edwards L. E. (2007) Origin and emplacement of impactites in the Chesapeake Bay impact structure, Virginia, USA, Geological Society of America Special Papers, Volume 437, pp. 73–97, doi:10.1130/2008.2437(06)

Horton, J.W., Jr., and Izett, G.A., 2005; Crystalline-rock ejecta and shocked minerals of the Chesapeake Bay impact structure, USGS-NASA Langley Core, Hampton, Virginia, with supplemental constraints on the age of the impact, in Horton et al., Editors, Studies of the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure—The USGS-NASA Langley Corehole, Hampton, Virginia, and related Coreholes and Geophysical Surveys, USGS Prof. Paper 1688. 

Horton J. W. Jr., Kunk M. J., Belkin H. E., Aleinikoff J. N., Jackson J. C, Chou I-M (2009) Evolution of crystalline target rocks and impactites in the Chesapeake Bay impact structure, ICDP-USGS Eyreville B coreGeological Society of America Special Papers, Volume 458, p. 277-316, doi:10.1130/2009.2458(14)

Horton, J. W., Jr., D. S. Powars, and G. S. Gohn, eds. "Studies of the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure - The USGS-NASA Langley Corehole, Hampton, Virginia, and Related Coreholes and Geophysical Surveys." U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1688-A-K, 2005b, p. 453.

Johnson G. H., Kruse S. E., Vaughn A. W., Lucey J. K., Hobbs C. H. III, Powars D. S. (1998) Postimpact deformation associated with the late Eocene Chesapeake Bay impact structure in southeastern Virginia: Geology, Volume 26, No. 6, pp. 507—510.

Johnson G. H., Powars D. S. (1996) Effects of Chesapeake Bay impact structure on late Cenozoic stratigraphic sequences and landscapes, southeastern Virginia (abstract) Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Volume 28, No. 7, p. A119.

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Johnson G. H., Powars D. S., Bruce T. S., Vaughn A. W, Lucey J. K., Kruse S. E. (1998) Relationship of Yorktown Formation lithofacies to post-impact deformation on the terrace zone, southeastern Virginia (abstract). Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Southeastern Section meeting, March 30-31, 1998.

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Koeberl C., Poag C. W., Reimold W. U., Brandt D. (1996) Impact origin of the Chesapeake Bay structure and source of the North American tektites. Science, Volume 271, Issue 5253, pp. 1263–1266, doi:10.1126/science.271.5253.1263

Lee S. R., Horton Jr. J. W., Walker R. J. (2006) Confirmation of a meteoritic component in impact-melt rocks of the Chesapeake Bay impact structure, Virginia, USA - Evidence from osmium isotopic and PGE systematics, Meteoritics and Planetary Science, Volume 41, issue 6, pp. 819-833. doi: 10.1111/j.1945-5100.2006.tb00488.x

McFarland, E. R., and T. S. Bruce. "Distribution, Origin, and Resource-Management Implications of Ground-Water Salinity Along the Western Margin of the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure in Eastern Virginia." In Studies of the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure - The USGS-NASA Langley Corehole, Hampton, Virginia, and Related Coreholes and Geophysical Surveys: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1688. Edited by J. W. Horton, Jr., D. S. Powars, and G. S. Gohn. 2005, pp. K1-K32.

McDonald I., Bartosova K., Koeberl C. (2009) Search for a meteoritic component in impact breccia from the Eyreville core, Chesapeake Bay impact structure: Considerations from platinum group element contents, Special Paper of the Geological Society of America, Issue 458, pp. 469-479. doi:10.1130/2009.2458(21)

Plescia J. B., Daniels D. L., and Shah A. K. (2009) Gravity investigations of the Chesapeake Bay impact structureGeological Society of America Special Papers, Volume 458, p. 181-193, doi:10.1130/2009.2458(09)

Poag C. W. (1996) Structural outer rim of Chesapeake Bay impact crater - Seismic and borehole evidence. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, Volume 31, Issue 2, pp. 218-226. doi: 10.1111/j.1945-5100.1996.tb02015.x

Poag C. W. (2002) Synimpact-postimpact transition inside Chesapeake Bay crater. Geology, Volume 30, No. 11, pp. 995-998. doi: 10.1130/0091-7613(2002)​030<0995:SPTICB>​2.0.CO;2

Poag C. W. (1997) The Chesapeake Bay bolide impact: a convulsive event in Atlantic Coastal Plain evolution, Sedimentary Geology, Volume 108, Issues 1-4, pp. 45–90, doi: 10.1016/S0037-0738(96)00048-6

Poag C. W., Koeberl C., Reimold W. U. (2004) The Chesapeake Bay Crater: Geology and Geophysics of a Late Eocene Submarine Impact Structure, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2004. ISBN-10: 3540404414; ISBN-13: 978-3540404415; doi: 10.1017/S0016756805260430

Poag C. W., Powars D. S., Mixon R. B. (1994) Convulsive events in Atlantic coastal plain evolution - effects of the Chesapeake Bay bolide impact (abstract). Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Volume 26, p. A—152.

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Powars D. S. (2000) The Effects of the Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater on the Geologic Framework and the Correlation of Hydrogeologic Units of Southeastern Virginia, South of the James River, Professional Paper 1622, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia.

Powars D. S., Bruce T. S. (1999) The effects of the Chesapeake Bay impact crater on the geological framework and correlation of hydrogeologic units of the lower York-James Peninsula, Virginia. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1612, 82 p.

Powars D. S., Bruce T. S., Poag C. W., Mixon R. B. (1994) Virginia's coastal plain inland salt water wedge - A geohydrological response to the Chesapeake Bay bolide impact (abstract). Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Volume 26, p. 410.

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Powars D. S., Johnson G. H., Bruce T. S. (1998) Stratigraphic, structural, and hydrogeological complexities related to the outer rim of the Chesapeake Bay impact crater (abstract). Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, Volume 30, p. A-279.

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Powars D. S., Poag C. W., Mixon R. B. (1993) The Chesapeake Bay “impact crater”; Stratigraphic and seismic evidence (abstract). Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, Volume 25, p. A-378.

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Pusz A. E., Miller K. G., Wright J. D., Katz M. E., Cramer B. S., and Kent D. V. (2009) Stable isotopic response to late Eocene extraterrestrial impactsGeological Society of America Special Papers, Volume 452, p. 83-95, doi:10.1130/2009.2452(06)

Riddle P. C., Vaughn A. W, Lucey J. K., Kruse S. E., Johnson G. H., Hobbs C. H. (1996) Geophysical studies of near-surface deformation associated with the Chesapeake Bay impact structure, southeastern Virginia (abstract). Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, Volume 28, No. 7, p. A-119.

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Self-Trail J. M. (2003) Shock-Wave-Induced Fracturing of Calcareous Nano Fossils from the Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater. Geology, Volume 31, No. 8, pp. 697-700.

Shah A. K., Brozena J., Vogt P., Daniles D., Plescia J. (2005) New surveys of the Chesapeake Bay impact structure suggest melt pockets and target structure effect. Geology, Volume 33, pp. 417–420.

Shah A. K., Daniels D. L., Kontny A., and Brozena J. (2009) Megablocks and melt pockets in the Chesapeake Bay impact structure constrained by magnetic field measurements and properties of the Eyreville and Cape Charles cores. GSA Special Paper 458. Boulder, Colorado: Geological Society of America. pp. 195–209.

Vanko D. A. (2009) A petrographic and fluid inclusion assessment of hydrothermal alteration of some impactites and crystalline rocks in the Chesapeake Bay impact structure, ICDP-USGS Eyreville B coreGeological Society of America Special Papers, Volume 458, p. 543-557, doi:10.1130/2009.2458(23)

Wittmann A., Reimold W. U., Schmitt R. T., Hecht L., Kenkmann T. (2009) The record of ground zero in the Chesapeake Bay impact crater - Suevites and related rocks. GSA Special Paper 458. Boulder, Colorado: Geological Society of America. pp. 349–376.

Wittmann A., Schmitt R. T., Hecht L., Kring D. A., Reimold W. U., Povenmire H. (2009) Petrology of impact melt rocks from the Chesapeake Bay crater, USA. GSA Special Paper 458. Boulder, Colorado: Geological Society of America. pp. 377–396.

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more to be integrated

Fernandes et al., 2012, abstract  http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2012/pdf/1775.pdf

Fernandes et al., 2014 http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2014/pdf/1274.pdf

http://specialpapers.gsapubs.org/content/458

http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/2005/1688/ak/PP1688_chapA.pdf

https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2002AM/finalprogram/session_2233.htm

https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2004AM/finalprogram/abstract_79601.htm