This data set comprises XRF (89 samples) and ICP-AES/ICP-MS (12 samples) major and trace element geochemistry of melt-bearing impact breccia (suevite) samples of the research drill core FBN 73 of the Ries impact crater in Southern Germany. The 1,206 m deep drilling in the central part of the Ries impact crater, carried out in 1973 (Bayerisches Geologisches Landesamt 1974), provided insights into the origin and distribution of suevite and into the development of the post-impact Ries lake with redeposited suevitic sediments at its base (Stöffler et al. 2013). The suevite is divided into five sequences, (1) dike suevite 1186-602 m, (2) melt-rich suevite 602-525 m, (3) melt-rich suevite 525-331 m, (4) graded suevite 331-314 m, and (5) reworked suevite 314-257 m (Stöffler et al., 2013 and references therein).
The drill core FBN 73 is stored and accessible at the Zentrum für Rieskrater- und Impaktforschung Nördlingen (Centre for Ries Crater Impact Research, ZERIN) and supplies the best available complete profile through the Ries crater suevite.
The data are supplementary material to Siegert et al. (2017, http://doi.org/10.1130/G39198.1) and are supplemented by geochemical data of crystalline target lithologies of the Ries impact crater (Schmitt et. al, 2017; http://doi.org/10.5880/fidgeo.2017.001). Averages of two consecutive melt-rich and melt-poor suevite samples are plotted in Siegert, et al. (2017).
More information about sample preparation, methodology as well as detection limits, standards used and precision expectations are given in the Explanatory File.
The Ries impact structure in Southern Germany is one of the best-preserved impact structures on Earth. Melt-bearing impact breccia appears in a variety of well accessible exposures around the inner ring up to 10 km beyond the crater rim (so-called outer suevite) overlying a ballistically ejected lithic breccia (so-called ‘Bunte Breccia’). Occasionally individual melt bombs occur in the ‘Bunte Breccia’. Coherent impact melt rock outside the inner crater is located in the eastern megablock zone (Stöffler et al., 2013 and references therein).This data set comprises major and trace element geochemistry of samples from eight outer suevite exposures, one impact melt rock exposure, and one melt bomb of the Ries impact crater. Two analytical method approaches were performed: i) in-situ analysis using electron microprobe (EMP) and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), and ii) analysis of whole-rock, melt separates, and suevite matrix separates using X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES)/ inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).