Editing Rochechouart impact structure (section)

== Geological setting ==
The Rochechouart impact structure is located on the margin of the French Massif Central. The target rocks exposed both in the center of the structure below the deposit, and radially outward are largely dominated by gneisses (blue and green on the map) and granites (pink on the map).<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":7">{{Cite journal|last=Lambert P.|date=2010|title=Target and impact deposits at Rochechouart impact structure, France|journal=Geological Society of America Special Paper, Special Paper 465|pages=509–541}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Notice Explicative, Carte Géologique de la France (1/50000), Feuille Rochechouart, (687): Orléans, France|last=Chèvremont, P., Floc’h, J.P., Ménillet, F., Stussi, J.M., Delbos, R., Sauret, B., Blès, J.L., Courbe, C., Vuaillat, D., and Gravelat, C.|publisher=BRGM|year=1996}}</ref> These metamorphic and intrusive rocks were emplaced some 350-300 million years ago during the Variscan orogeny. The latter also referred as to Hercynian orogeny is a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between the tectonic plates of Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea. This caused the rise of Himalaya-like mountain ridges of the Massif Central, among others. The mountains were already eroded and transformed into a peneplain at the time of the impact.

The center of the structure is only {{cvt|15|-|20|km}} from the closest sediments.<ref name=":7" /> The later were deposited after the impact. Yet the impact has most probably taken place on the margin of the Massif Central forming an island at that time, close enough to the nearby sea to have triggered a prominent tsunami.