Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userCrater shape as a possible record of the impact environment of metallic bodies: Effects of temperature, impact velocity and impactor density
206
0
0.0
(
0
)
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
Metallic bodies that were the cores of differentiated bodies are sources of iron meteorites and are considered to have formed early in the terrestrial planet region before migrating to the main asteroid belt. Surface temperatures and mutual collision velocities differ between the terrestrial planet region and the main asteroid belt. To investigate the dependence of crater shape on temperature, velocity and impactor density, we conducted impact experiments on room- and low-temperature iron meteorite and iron alloy targets (carbon steel SS400 and iron-nickel alloy) with velocities of 0.8-7 km/s. The projectiles were rock cylinders and metal spheres and cylinders. Oblique impact experiments were also conducted using stainless steel projectiles and SS400 steel targets which produced more prominent radial patterns downrange at room temperature than at low temperature. Crater diameters and depths were measured and compiled using non-dimensional parameter sets based on the $pi$-group crater scaling relations. Two-dimensional numerical simulations were conducted using iSALE-2D code with the Johnson-Cook strength model. Both experimental and numerical results showed that the crater depth and diameter decreased with decreasing temperature, which strengthened the target, and with decreasing impact velocity. The decreasing tendency was more prominent for depth than for diameter, i.e., the depth/diameter ratio was smaller for the low temperature and low velocity conditions. The depth/diameter ratios of craters formed by rock projectiles were shallower than those of craters formed by metallic projectiles. Our results imply that the frequency distribution of the depth/diameter ratio for craters on the surface of metallic bodies may be used as a probe of the past impact environment of metallic bodies.
rate research
Read More
We performed numerical simulations of impact crater formation on Europa to infer the thickness and structure of its ice shell. The simulations were performed using iSALE to test both the conductive ice shell over ocean and the conductive lid over warm convective ice scenarios for a variety of conditions. The modeled crater depth-diameter is strongly dependent on thermal gradient and temperature of the warm convective ice. Our results indicate that both a fully conductive (thin) shell and a conductive-convective (thick) shell can reproduce the observed crater depth-diameter and morphologies. For the conductive ice shell over ocean, the best fit is an approximately 8 km thick conductive ice shell. Depending on the temperature (255 - 265 K) and therefore strength of warm convective ice, the thickness of the conductive ice lid is estimated at 5 - 7 km. If central features within the crater, such as pits and domes, form during crater collapse, our simulations are in better agreement with the fully conductive shell (thin shell). If central features form well after the impact, however, our simulations suggest a conductive-convective shell (thick shell) is more likely. Although our study does not provide firm conclusion regarding the thickness of Europas ice shell, our work indicates that Valhalla-class multiring basins on Europa may provide robust constraints on the thickness of Europas ice shell.
The discovery of a large putative impact crater buried beneath Hiawatha Glacier along the margin of the northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet has reinvigorated interest into the nature of large impacts into thick ice masses. This circular structure is relatively shallow and exhibits a small central uplift, whereas a peak-ring morphology is expected. This discrepancy may be due to long-term and ongoing subglacial erosion but may also be explained by a relatively recent impact through the Greenland Ice Sheet, which is expected to alter the final crater morphology. Here we model crater formation using hydrocode simulations, varying pre-impact ice thickness and impactor composition over crystalline target rock. We find that an ice-sheet thickness of 1.5 or 2 km results in a crater morphology that is consistent with the present morphology of this structure. Further, an ice sheet that thick substantially inhibits ejection of rocky material, which might explain the absence of rocky ejecta in most existing Greenland deep ice cores if the impact occurred during the late Pleistocene. From the present morphology of the putative Hiawatha impact crater alone, we cannot distinguish between an older crater formed by a pre-Pleistocene impact into ice-free bedrock or a younger, Pleistocene impact into locally thick ice, but based on our modeling we conclude that latter scenario is possible.
We explore the origin of a ~280 m wide, heavily eroded circular depression in Palm Valley, Northern Territory, Australia using gravity, morphological, and mineralogical data collected from a field survey in September 2009. From the analysis of the survey, we debate probable formation processes, namely erosion and impact, as no evidence of volcanism is found in the region or reported in the literature. We argue that the depression was not formed by erosion and consider an impact origin, although we acknowledge that diagnostics required to identify it as such (e.g. meteorite fragments, shatter cones, shocked quartz) are lacking, leaving the formation process uncertain. We encourage further discussion of the depressions origin and stress a need to develop recognition criteria that can help identify small, ancient impact craters. We also encourage systematic searches for impact craters in Central Australia as it is probable that many more remain to be discovered.
Rampino & Caldeira (2015) carry out a circular spectral analysis (CSA) of the terrestrial impact cratering record over the past 260 million years (Ma), and suggest a ~26 Ma periodicity of impact events. For some of the impacts in that analysis, new accurate and high-precision (robust; 2SE<2%) 40Ar-39Ar ages have recently been published, resulting in significant age shifts. In a CSA of the updated impact age list, the periodicity is strongly reduced. In a CSA of a list containing only impacts with robust ages, we find no significant periodicity for the last 500 Ma. We show that if we relax the assumption of a fully periodic impact record, assuming it to be a mix of a periodic and a random component instead, we should have found a periodic component if it contributes more than ~80% of the impacts in the last 260 Ma. The difference between our CSA and the one by Rampino & Caldeira (2015) originates in a subset of clustered impacts (i.e., with overlapping ages). The ~26 Ma periodicity seemingly carried by these clusters alone is strongly significant if tested against a random distribution of ages, but this significance disappears if it is tested against a distribution containing (randomly-spaced) clusters. The presence of a few impact age clusters (e.g., from asteroid break-up events) in an otherwise random impact record can thus give rise to false periodicity peaks in a CSA. There is currently no evidence for periodicity in the impact record.
We investigate the patterns observed in ejecta curtain induced by hypervelocity impact (2-6 km/s) with a variety of the size and shape of target particles. We characterize the patterns by an angle, defined as the ratio of the characteristic length of the pattern obtained by Fourier transformation to the distance from the impact point. This angle is found to be almost the same as that obtained by the reanalysis of the patterns in the previous study at lower impact velocities (Kadono et al., 2015, Icarus 250, 215-221), which are consistent with lunar crater-ray systems. Assuming that the pattern is formed by mutual collision of particles with fluctuation velocity in excavation flow, we evaluate an angle at which the pattern growth stops and show that this angle is the same in the order of magnitude as the ratio of the fluctuation velocity and the radial velocity. This relation is confirmed in the results of experiments and numerical simulations. Finally, we discuss the dependence of the patterns on impact conditions. The experiments show no dependence of the angle on impact velocity. This indicates that the ratio between the fluctuation and radial velocity components in excavation flow does not depend on impact velocity. Moreover, the independences on particle size and particle shape suggest that the angle characterizing the structure of the patterns does not depend on cohesive force. Since cohesive forces should be related with elastic properties of particles, the structure does not depend on elastic properties, though inelastic collisions are important for the persistence and contrast of the patterns.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
