A Non-magmatic Iron Meteorite as Impactor for the Rochechouart Crater

The Rochechouart impact crater in the French Massif Central, has a diameter of 20 25 km [1] and an age of 250 my [2]. The cater is deeply eroded, down to the crater floor. Impact melt outcrops can be found in different parts of the crater [3]. The type of impactor that produced Rochechouart crater is still not clear. The first proposal of an IIA iron asteroid was based on the abundance of some platinum group element (PGE) and siderophile elements in the melt and target rocks of the Rochechouart structure [4]. Later, metal veins were reported from the rocks at the bottom crater [5] and interpreted as condensates from the impacting asteroid. From the Ni/Cr ratios of these veins the authors proposed a chondrite body as impactor [5]. On the basis of Cr isotope an ordinary chondrite as impactor was finally proposed by [6].