Impact cratering on Titan II. Global melt, escaping ejecta, and aqueous alteration of surface organics

New three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of hypervelocity impacts into the crust of Titan were undertaken to determine the fraction of liquid water generated on the surface of Saturn's largest moon over its history and, hence, the potential for surface—modification of hydrocarbons and nitriles by exposure to liquid water. We model in detail an individual impact event in terms of ejecta produced and melt generated, and use this to estimate melt production over Titan's history, taking into account the total flux of the impactors and its decay over time. Our estimates show that a global melt layer at any time after the very beginning of Titan's history is improbable; but transient melting local to newly formed craters has occurred over large parts of the surface. Local maxima of the melt are connected with the largest impact events. We also calculate the amount of volatiles delivered at the impact with various impact velocities (from 3 km/s for possible Hyperion fragments to 11 km/s for Jupiter family comets) and their retention as a possible source of Titan's atmosphere. We find the probability of impact ejecta escaping Titan with its modern dense and thick atmosphere is rather low, and dispersal of Titan organics throughout the rest of the Solar System requires impactors tens of kilometers in diameter. Water ice melting and exposure of organics to liquid water has been widespread because of impacts, but burial or obscuration of craters by organic deposits or cryovolcanism is aided by viscous relaxation. The largest impactors may breach an ammonia-water mantle layer, creating a circular albedo contrast rather than a crater.     

Mercurian impact ejecta: Meteorites and mantle

Abstract— We have examined the fate of impact ejecta liberated from the surface of Mercury due to impacts by comets or asteroids, in order to study 1) meteorite transfer to Earth, and 2) reaccumulation of an expelled mantle in giant‐impact scenarios seeking to explain Mercury's large core. In the context of meteorite transfer during the last 30 Myr, we note that Mercury's impact ejecta leave the planet's surface much faster (on average) than other planets in the solar system because it is the only planet where impact speeds routinely range from 5 to 20 times the planet's escape speed; this causes impact ejecta to leave its surface moving many times faster than needed to escape its gravitational pull. Thus, a large fraction of Mercurian ejecta may reach heliocentric orbit with speeds sufficiently high for Earth‐crossing orbits to exist immediately after impact, resulting in larger fractions of the ejecta reaching Earth as meteorites. We calculate the delivery rate to Earth on a time scale of 30 Myr (typical of stony meteorites from the asteroid belt) and show that several percent of the high‐speed ejecta reach Earth (a factor of 2–3 less than typical launches from Mars); this is one to two orders of magnitude more efficient than previous estimates. Similar quantities of material reach Venus. These calculations also yield measurements of the re‐accretion time scale of material ejected from Mercury in a putative giant impact (assuming gravity is dominant). For Mercurian ejecta escaping the gravitational reach of the planet with excess speeds equal to Mercury's escape speed, about one third of ejecta reaccretes in as little as 2 Myr. Thus collisional stripping of a silicate proto‐Mercurian mantle can only work effectively if the liberated mantle material remains in small enough particles that radiation forces can drag them into the Sun on time scale of a few million years, or Mercury would simply re‐accrete the material.     

Meteorological assessment of the surface temperatures on Titan: constraints on the surface type

The latitudinal profile of near-surface air temperature on Titan retrieved by Voyager 1 has been difficult to understand and raised several speculations about possible exotic processes that might be occurring near Titan's surface, while the thermal properties of the surface itself are unknown. This study systematically investigates the seasonal and spatial variation of the surface temperature and air temperature in the lower troposphere by a 3-dimensional general circulation model for different putative surface types (porous icy regolith, rock-ice mixture, hydrocarbon lakes). For any viable surface type the surface temperature is unlikely to be constant through the year and should more or less vary seasonally and even diurnally, most likely by a few K. Recent observations of tropospheric clouds may be evidence of seasonal variation of the surface temperature and the model predicts in the case of solid surface the development of a convective layer with superadiabatic lapse rates near the surface exactly at those latitudes and seasons where clouds have been identified. The latitudinal profile of the surface temperature retrieved from Voyager 1 infrared spectra can be explained without invoking exotic effects, provided the thermal inertia of the surface is relatively small and/or the surface albedo is low. A dominance of water ice (high thermal inertia and high albedo) at the surface is unfavorable to reproduce the observation. The latitudinal gradient of the surface temperature is particularly large at the hydrocarbon lake surface due to low albedo and small surface drag. Local anomalies of the surface albedo or surface thermal inertia are likely to cause substantial inhomogeneities of the surface temperature. Quasi-permanent accumulation of stratospheric haze at both poles would create a perennial equator-to-pole contrast of the surface temperature, but also a substantially lower global-mean surface temperature due to an enhanced anti-greenhouse effect in summer. The air temperature in the lower troposphere exhibits a tiny latitudinal gradient and a pole-to-pole gradient due to the presence of a pole-to-pole Hadley circulation, indicating that the temperature within the planetary boundary layer may exhibit a vertical profile characteristic of season, location and scenario. There may be a shallow near-surface inversion layer in cold seasons and a shallow convective layer in warm seasons.     

Bosumtwi impact structure,Ghana: Evidence for fluidized emplacement of the ejecta

The about 10.5 km diameter Bosumtwi impact crater is one of the youngest large impact structures on Earth. The crater rim is readily noticed on topographic maps or in satellite imagery. It defines a circular basin filled by water (Lake Bosumtwi) and lacustrine sediments. The morphology of this impact structure is also characterized by a circular plateau extending beyond the rim and up to 9–10 km from the center of the crater (about 2 crater radii). This feature comprises a shallow ring depression, also described as an annular moat, and a subdued circular ridge at its outer edge. The origin of this outermost feature could so far not be elucidated based on remote sensing data only. Our approach combines detailed topographic analysis, including roughness mapping, with airborne radiometric surveys (mapping near‐surface K, Th, U concentrations) and field observations. This provides evidence that the moat and outer ring are features inherited from the impact event and represent the partially eroded ejecta layer of the Bosumtwi impact structure. The characteristics of the outer ridge indicate that ejecta emplacement was not purely ballistic but requires ejecta fluidization and surface flow. The setting of Bosumtwi ejecta can therefore be considered as a terrestrial analog for rampart craters, which are common on Mars and Venus, and also found on icy bodies of the outer solar system (e.g., Ganymede, Europa, Dione, Tethys, and Charon). Future studies at Bosumtwi may therefore help to elucidate the mechanism of formation of rampart craters.     

Cratering rate over the surface of a synchronous satellite

Equations have been derived for the asymmetries of crater frequency over the surface of a synchronously rotating satellite, when the orbital velocities of projectiles about the parent planet are always larger than the satellite's circular orbital velocity. If the projectiles orbit the planet in moderately eccentric ellipses, no marked apex-antapex asymmetries of crater frequency distribution are expected. Theoretical values of apex-antapex asymmetries are presented for the Earth, the Moon, and some Jovian and Saturnian satellites, and are compared with available observational and theoretical results.     

The Obolon impact structure,Ukraine, and its ejecta deposits

Abstract— The Obolon impact structure, 18 km in diameter, is situated at the northeastern slope of the Ukrainian Shield near its margin with the Dnieper‐Donets Depression. The crater was formed in crystalline rocks of the Precambrian basement that are overlain by marine Carboniferous and continental Lower Triassic deposits. The post‐impact sediments comprise marine Middle Jurassic (Bajocian and Bathonian) and younger Mesozoic and Cenozoic deposits. Today the impact structure is buried beneath an about 300‐meter‐thick sedimentary rock sequence. Most information on the Obolon structure is derived from two boreholes in the western part of the crater. The lowest part of the section in the deepest borehole is composed by allogenic breccia of crystalline basement rocks overlain by clast‐rich impact melt rocks and suevites. Abundant shock metamorphic effects are planar deformation features (PDFs) in quartz and feldspars, kink bands in biotite, etc. Coesite and impact diamonds were found in clast‐rich impact melt rocks. Crater‐fill deposits are a series of sandstones and breccias with blocks of sedimentary rocks that are covered by a layer of crystalline rock breccia. Crystalline rock breccias, conglomeratic breccias, and sandstones with crystalline rock debris have been found in some boreholes around the Obolon impact structure to a distance of about 50 km from its center. Those deposits are always underlain by Lower Triassic continental red clay and overlain by Middle Jurassic marine clay. The K‐Ar age of impact melt glasses is 169 Ma, which corresponds to the Middle Jurassic (Bajocian) age. The composition of crater‐fill rocks within the crater and sediments outside the Obolon structure testify to its formation under submarine conditions.     

Petrology and microstructure of distal impact ejecta from the Flinders Ranges,Australia

Abstract— The Acraman impact ejecta from Bunyeroo Gorge in the central Flinders Ranges consist of clast-bearing and sandy sublayers set in a shale host rock. A calculated transient crater diameter for the Acraman impact of at least 34 km was obtained from average thicknesses and estimated distances of the ejecta from the impact in the Gawler Ranges. The ejecta contain numerous grains of quartz and zircon that display impact-produced features, including one or more sets of decorated planar deformation features. There is also much unshocked material incorporated in the ejecta layer. The coarse-grained ejecta layer embedded within fine-grained sediments allowed easy passage for diagenetic fluids that produced a porous honeycomb structure in the clays and enhanced the content of elements such as Cu, Pb, Zn, and U. The clay fraction of the ejecta layers consists of vermiculite and kaolinite, probably formed from alteration and weathering of glassy components. It appears that quartz and zircon grains are the only remnants unaltered by diagenetic processes.     

Petrography and geochemistry of ejecta from the Sudbury impact event

Ejecta from the Connors Creek site in Michigan (500 km from the Sudbury Igneous Complex [SIC]), the Pine River site in western Ontario (650 km from the SIC), and the Coleraine site in Minnesota (980 km from the SIC) were petrographically and geochemically analyzed. Connors Creek was found to have approximately 2 m of ejecta, including shocked quartz, melt droplets, and accretionary lapilli; Pine River has similar deposits about 1 m in thickness, although with smaller lapilli; Coleraine contains only impact spherules in a 20 cm‐thick layer (impact spherules being similar to microkrystites or microtektites). The ejecta transition from chaotic deposits of massively bedded impactoclastic material with locally derived detritus at Connors Creek to a deposit with apparently very little detrital material that is primarily composed of melt droplets at Pine River to a deposit that is almost entirely composed of melt spherules at Coleraine. The major and trace element compositions of the ejecta confirm the previously observed similarity of the ejecta deposits to the Onaping Formation in the SIC. Platinum‐group element (PGE) concentrations from each of the sites were also measured, revealing significantly elevated PGE contents in the spherule samples compared with background values. PGE abundances in samples from the Pine River site can be reproduced by addition of approximately 0.2 wt% CI chondrite to the background composition of the underlying sediments in the core. PGE interelement ratios indicate that the Sudbury impact event was probably caused by a chondritic impactor.     

Simulations of impact ejecta and regolith accumulation on Asteroid Eros

We have carried out a set of Monte Carlo simulations of the placement of impact ejecta on Asteroid 433 Eros, with the aim of understanding the distribution and accumulation of regolith. The simulations consisted of two stages: (1) random distribution of primary impact sites derived from a uniform isotropic flux of impactors, and (2) integration of the orbits of test particle ejecta launched from primary impact points until their re-impact or escape. We integrated the orbits of a large number of test particles (typically 10⁶ per individual case). For those particles that did not escape we collected the location of their re-impact points to build up a distribution on the asteroid surface. We find that secondary impact density is mostly controlled by the overall topography of the asteroid. A gray-scale image of the density of secondary ejecta impact points looks, in general, like a reduced-scale negative of the topography of the asteroid's surface. In other words, regolith migration tends to fill in the topography of Eros over time, whereas topographic highs are denuded of free material. Thus, the irregular shape of Eros is not a steady-state configuration, but the result of larger stochastic events.     

New impact‐melt rock from the Roter Kamm impact structure,Namibia: Further constraints on impact age,melt rock chemistry,and projectile composition

Abstract— A new locality of in situ massive impact‐melt rock was discovered on the south‐southwestern rim of the Roter Kamm impact structure. While the sub‐samples from this new locality are relatively homogeneous at the hand specimen scale, and despite being from a nearby location, they do not have the same composition of the only previously analyzed impact‐melt rock sample from Roter Kamm. Both Roter Kamm impact‐melt rock samples analyzed to date, as well as several suevite samples, exhibit a granitic‐granodioritic precursor composition. Micro‐chemical analyses of glassy matrix and Al‐rich orthopyroxene microphenocrysts demonstrate rapid cooling and chemical disequilibrium at small scales. Platinum‐group element abundances and ratios indicate an ordinary chondritic composition for the Roter Kamm impactor. Laser argon dating of two sub‐samples did not reproduce the previously obtained age of 3.7 ± 0.3 (1s?) for this impact event, based on ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating of a single vesicular impact‐melt rock. Instead, we obtained ages between 3.9 and 6.3 Ma, with an inverse isochron age of 4.7 ± 0.3 Ma for one analyzed sub‐sample and 5.1 ± 0.4 Ma for the other. Clearly a post‐5 Ma impact at Roter Kamm remains indicated, but further analytical work is required to better constrain the currently best estimate of 4–5 Ma. Both impactor and age constraints are clearly obstructed by the inherent microscopic heterogeneity and disequilibrium melting and cooling processes demonstrated in the present study.     

Numerical calculations of the longevity of impact oases on Titan

A promising setting for the formation of interesting prebiotic molecules on Titan is the transient liquid water environment formed by a comet impact, as originally suggested by Thompson and Sagan (1992, in: Symposium on Titan, ESA SP, vol. 338, p. 167). The impact melt (water or a water-ammonia mixture) generated in such an event can react with the abundant photochemical hydrocarbons and nitriles deposited on the surface of Titan to form more complex molecules such as purines and amino acids. We use a finite-difference thermal conduction code to calculate how long it takes for realistic liquid deposits in crater floors to freeze in the Titan environment. Our results suggest that 15 km diameter craters can sustain liquid water or water-ammonia environments for ∼¹⁰²-10³ yr and 150 km craters can sustain them for ∼¹⁰³-10⁴ yr. We discuss the implications of these timescales for organic chemistry on Titan.     

Laboratory simulations of redeposition of impact ejecta on mineral surfaces

We present quantitative laboratory studies that simulate the effect of redeposition of impact-ejecta on mineral surfaces. We produced deposits of natural olivine (Fo90) and forsterite on olivine and forsterite powder samples by ns-pulsed laser ablation. The deposits produce changes in the optical reflectance (0.66-2.5 μm). We show that significant darkening and reddening of the surface occurs when the deposit is olivine but not if it is forsterite. This is attributed to the formation of metallic iron nanoparticles in the olivine deposits. We also characterized structural and chemical changes using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). In situ XPS measurements show that the olivine deposits are reduced, with 50% of the iron becoming metallic. Transmission electron microscope studies confirm the presence of 2-3 nm crystalline iron nanoparticles in the olivine deposits. The scanning electron microscope shows that both olivine and forsterite deposits smoothen the topography of the powder surface, which could have effects on processes such as exosphere-surface interactions and sputtering. We conclude that the effect of coatings produced by micrometeorite impacts will not be uniform on airless bodies but will depend on the composition of the terrain.     

Crater geometry and ejecta thickness of the Martian impact crater Tooting

Abstract— We use Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) topographic data and Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) visible (VIS) images to study the cavity and the ejecta blanket of a very fresh Martian impact crater ?29 km in diameter, with the provisional International Astronomical Union (IAU) name Tooting crater. This crater is very young, as demonstrated by the large depth/diameter ratio (0.065), impact melt preserved on the walls and floor, an extensive secondary crater field, and only 13 superposed impact craters (all 54 to 234 meters in diameter) on the ?8120 km² ejecta blanket. Because the pre‐impact terrain was essentially flat, we can measure the volume of the crater cavity and ejecta deposits. Tooting crater has a rim height that has >500 m variation around the rim crest and a very large central peak (1052 m high and >9 km wide). Crater cavity volume (i.e., volume below the pre‐impact terrain) is ?380 km³ the volume of materials above the pre‐impact terrain is ?425 km³. The ejecta thickness is often very thin (<20 m) throughout much of the ejecta blanket. There is a pronounced asymmetry in the ejecta blanket, suggestive of an oblique impact, which has resulted in up to ?100 m of additional ejecta thickness being deposited down‐range compared to the up‐range value at the same radial distance from the rim crest. Distal ramparts are 60 to 125 m high, comparable to the heights of ramparts measured at other multi‐layered ejecta craters. Tooting crater serves as a fresh end‐member for the large impact craters on Mars formed in volcanic materials, and as such may be useful for comparison to fresh craters in other target materials.     

An analytic study of impact ejecta trajectories in the atmospheres of Venus,Mars, and Earth

Calculations have been made to determine the effects of atmospheric drag and gravity on impact ejecta trajectories on Venus, Mars, and the Earth. The equations of motion were numerically integrated for a broad range of body sizes, initial velocities, and initial elevation angles. A dimensionless parameter was found from approximate analytic solutions which correlated the ejecta range, final impact angle, and final impact velocity for all three planets.     

Infrared observations of the surface and atmosphere of Titan

Infrared photometry of Titan, Saturn, and Saturn's Rings at 3.5, 4.9, 17.8, and 18.4 μm is reported. Comparison of the albedo of Titan in the 4.9 μm “window” with the albedo of the rings and with laboratory spectra suggests that frost, possibly water ice, could be a major constituent. If thick clouds are present they must be very dark at 4.9 μm. The 17.8 and 18.4 μm data are not consistent with a clear, dense molecular hydrogen atmosphere.     

Target rocks,impact glasses,and melt rocks from the Lonar impact crater,India: Petrography and geochemistry

Abstract— The Lonar crater, India, is the only well‐preserved simple crater on Earth in continental flood basalts; it is excavated in the Deccan trap basalts of Cretaceous‐Tertiary age. A representative set of target basalts, including the basalt flows excavated by the crater, and a variety of impact breccias and impact glasses, were analyzed for their major and trace element compositions. Impact glasses and breccias were found inside and outside the crater rim in a variety of morphological forms and shapes. Comparable geochemical patterns of immobile elements (e.g., REEs) for glass, melt rock and basalt indicates minimal fractionation between the target rocks and the impactites. We found only little indication of post‐impact hydrothermal alteration in terms of volatile trace element changes. No clear indication of an extraterrestrial component was found in any of our breccias and impact glasses, indicating either a low level of contamination, or a non‐chondritic or otherwise iridium‐poor impactor.     

Discharge experiments simulating chemical evolution on the surface of Titan

Saturn's moon Titan has been considered as one of the few places in our Solar System, where atmospheric and surface conditions could have produced organic compounds essential as precursors for an evolution of life. The Cassini-Huygens mission has provided new data on Titan's atmosphere and surface, which enabled us to simulate the chemical processes occurring under these conditions. Possible lightning events on Titan cannot only produce higher hydrocarbons, but also allow surface water ice to participate in the reaction scenario, resulting in CHO, CHN, and CHON compounds including several molecules relevant for the formation of amino acids and nucleic acids.     

Effect of target properties and impact velocity on ejection dynamics and ejecta deposition

Impact craters are formed by the displacement and ejection of target material. Ejection angles and speeds during the excavation process depend on specific target properties. In order to quantify the influence of the constitutive properties of the target and impact velocity on ejection trajectories, we present the results of a systematic numerical parameter study. We have carried out a suite of numerical simulations of impact scenarios with different coefficients of friction (0.0–1.0), porosities (0–42%), and cohesions (0–150 MPa). Furthermore, simulations with varying pairs of impact velocity (1–20 km s⁻¹) and projectile mass yielding craters of approximately equal volume are examined. We record ejection speed, ejection angle, and the mass of ejected material to determine parameters in scaling relationships, and to calculate the thickness of deposited ejecta by assuming analytical parabolic trajectories under Earth gravity. For the resulting deposits, we parameterize the thickness as a function of radial distance by a power law. We find that strength—that is, the coefficient of friction and target cohesion—has the strongest effect on the distribution of ejecta. In contrast, ejecta thickness as a function of distance is very similar for different target porosities and for varying impact velocities larger than ~6 km s⁻¹. We compare the derived ejecta deposits with observations from natural craters and experiments.     

Spherules and shard-like clasts from the late Proterozoic Acraman impact ejecta horizon,South Australia

Abstract— Spherules and irregular shard-like particles consisting of authigenic mineral phases have been identified in the Acraman impact ejecta horizon preserved within the late Proterozoic shales of the Adelaide Geosyncline, South Australia. The spherules (150 μm to 1 mm diameter) range in shape from near-spherical through ellipsoidal to extended ellipsoidal-dumbbell. The distinctive morphology of the spherules and shard-like particles and their restriction to the ejecta horizon, suggest that they were deposited initially as glassy bodies which subsequently have been pseudomorphed by more stable authigenic phases like calcite, quartz, albite, and barite.