Periodicity and decay of craters over the past 600 myr

The data set of Grieve which provides diameters and ages of craters is analyzed to obtain periodicity of the formation rate and decay constant of craters. It is confirmed that large craters (D 10 km) do not exhibit any periodicity while small ones appear to satisfy the Broadbent criterion for quantum (periodicity) hypothesis at P 29.5 myr. The result is consistent with a recent study of Bailey who showed that large craters are largely due to asteroids. Allowing for the decay of craters, an excess of 4 small craters within the nearest past is detected. In this sense, one may argue that the solar system is now in a moderate comet shower.     

On the periodicity hypothesis of the ages of large impact craters

An analysis is made of the periodicity hypothesis of the ages of large craters, based on the compilation by Grieve with the addition of recently identified craters. A method earlier proposed by Broadbent is used to derive a period, and the significance of the derived period is tested by a Monte Carlo experiment. In accordance with the result of Stothers, the ages of large craters  ( D >30 km)  are shown to exhibit a period close to 37.5 Myr. Monte Carlo experiments show, however, that the derived period is far from being statistically significant. A subset of crater data earlier adopted by Napier for the purpose of similar investigation is also tested, and it is shown that they also exhibit a similar period at an almost identical level of confidence. A brief discussion is made of the relation between the derived period and that associated with faunal mass extinctions.     

The Galactic Theory of Mass Extinctions: an Update

Astronomical and geological evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that mass extinctions of life on Earth are related to impacts of comets whose flux is partly modulated by the dynamics of the Milky Way Galaxy. Geologic evidence for impact (ejecta and large impact craters) has been found at times of mass extinction events, and the record of large dated craters shows a significant correlation with extinctions. Statistical analyses suggest that mass extinction events exhibit a periodic component of about 30 Myr, and periodicities of 30 ± 0.5 Myr and 35 ± 2 Myr have been extracted from sets of well-dated large impact craters. These results suggest periodic or quasi-periodic showers of impactors, probably Oort Cloud comets, with an approximately 30 or 36 Myr cycle. The best explanation for these proposed quasi-periodic comet showers involves the Sun's vertical oscillation through the galactic disk, which may have a similar cycle time between crossings of the galactic plane. Further refinement of the model will depend on the identification and quantification of the dark matter component in the galactic disk, and discovery and accurate dating of additional impact craters. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Fractal properties of outflows from Venusian impact craters

This article presents fractal analyses of 28 outflow margins from 18 Venusian impact craters. The fractal dimensions of the second parts of R-plots of the outflow outlines were measured by a three-step method. The fractality values for the same outflow measured from images which have only a small difference in resolution are very similar, while large differences in image resolution may result in differences in fractality, possibly due to the fact that we are actually studying geological processes on different scales. The outflows were classified into three general categories: single outflows, multiple outflows and outflow fields. Three conclusions were drawn on the relations between fractality and crater diameter, which may be related to the greater effects caused by the immediate local environment on the outflows from small craters than on those from larger craters. Investigation of the relations between the regional topography and fractality indicates that there are substantially less effects on outflows originating from large craters than on those from small craters. The smooth bending in the R-plot and the higher D-value for the multiple outflows could result from the mixing of various fractal or non-fractal units. When comparing our results with the fractality of terrestrial lava flows, outflows from craters of diameter greater than 50 km seem to resemble aa-type lava flows in their fractal dimensions and outflows from craters of diameter below 50 km tend to be more pahoehoe-like. This preliminary result is based on 28 outflows, however, and the pattern should be investigated more carefully by further more extensive work.     

The geology of 433 Eros

Abstract— The global high‐resolution imaging of asteroid 433 Eros by the Near‐Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) Shoemaker spacecraft has made it possible to develop the first comprehensive picture of the geology of a small S‐type asteroid. Eros displays a variety of surface features, and evidence of a substantial regolith. Large scale facets, grooves, and ridges indicate the presence of at least one global planar structure. Directional and superposition relations of smaller structural features suggest that fracturing has occurred throughout the object. As with other small objects, impact craters dominate the overall shape as well as the small‐scale topography of Eros. Depth/diameter ratios of craters on Eros average ～0.13, but the freshest craters approach lunar values of ～0.2. Ejecta block production from craters is highly variable; the majority of large blocks appear to have originated from one 7.6 km crater (Shoemaker). The interior morphology of craters does not reveal the influence of discrete mechanical boundaries at depth in the manner of craters formed on lunar mare regolith and on some parts of Phobos. This lack of mechanical boundaries, and the abundant evidence of regolith in nearly every high‐resolution image, suggests a gradation in the porosity and fracturing with depth. The density of small craters is deficient at sizes below ～200 m relative to predicted slopes of empirical saturation. This characteristic, which is also found on parts of Phobos and lunar highland areas, probably results from the efficient obliteration of small craters on a body with significant topographic slopes and a thick regolith. Eros displays a variety of regolith features, such as debris aprons, fine‐grained “ponded” deposits, talus cones, and bright and dark streamers on steep slopes indicative of efficient downslope movement of regolith. These processes serve to mix materials in the upper loose fragmental portion of the asteroid (regolith). In the instance of “ponded” materials and crater wall deposits, there is evidence of processes that segregate finer materials into discrete deposits. The NEAR observations have shown us that surface processes on small asteroids can be very complex and result in a wide variety of morphologic features and landforms that today seem exotic. Future missions to comets and asteroids will surely reveal still as yet unseen processes as well as give context to those discovered by the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft.     

The “Shiva Hypothesis”: Impacts, mass extinctions, and the galaxy

The “Shiva Hypothesis”, in which recurrent, cyclical mass extinctions of life on Earth result from impacts of comets or asteroids, provides a possible unification of important processes in astrophysics, planetary geology, and the history of life. Collisions with Earth-crossing asteroids and comets ≥ a few km in diameter are calculated to produce widespread environmental disasters (dust clouds, wildfires), and occur with the proper frequency to account for the record of five major mass extinctions (from ≥ 10⁸ Mt TNT impacts) and ~ 20 minor mass extinctions (from 10⁷–10⁸ Mt impacts) recorded in the past 540 million years. Recent studies of a number of extinctions show evidence of severe environmental disturbances and mass mortality consistent with the expected after-effects (dust clouds, wildfires) of catastrophic impacts. At least six cases of features generally considered diagnostic of large impacts (e.g., large impact craters, layers with high platinum-group elements, shock-related minerals, and/or microtektites) are known at or close to extinction-event boundaries. Six additional cases of elevated iridium levels at or near extinction boundaries are of the amplitude that might be expected from collision of relatively low-Ir objects such as comets. The records of cratering and mass extinction show a correlation, and might be explained by a combination of periodic and stochastic impactors. The mass extinction record shows evidence for a periodic component of about 26 to 30 Myr, and an ~ 30 Myr periodic component has been detected in impact craters by some workers, with recent pulses of impacts in the last 2–3 million years, and at ~ 35, 65, and 95 million years ago. A cyclical astronomical pacemaker for such pulses of impacts may involve the motions of the Earth through the Milky Way Galaxy. As the Solar System revolves around the galactic center, it also oscillates up and down through the plane of the disk-shaped galaxy with a half-cycle ~ 30±3 Myr. This cycle should lead to quasi-periodic encounters with interstellar clouds, and periodic variations in the galactic tidal force with maxima at times of plane crossing. This “galactic carrousel” effect may provide a viable perturber of the Oort Cloud comets, producing periodic showers of comets in the inner Solar System. These impact pulses, along with stochastic impactors, may represent the major punctuations in earth history.     

Critical crater diameter and asteroid impact seismology

Abstract— If impact stress reverberation is the primary gradational process on an asteroid at global scales, then the largest undegraded crater records an asteroid's seismological response. The critical crater diameter D_crit is defined as the smallest crater whose formation disrupts all previous craters globally up to its size; it is solved for by combining relationships for crater growth and for stress attenuation. The computation for D_crit gives a simple explanation for the curious observation that small asteroids have only modest undegraded craters, in comparison to their size, whereas large asteroids have giant undegraded craters. D_crit can even exceed the asteroid diameter, in which case all craters are “local” and the asteroid becomes crowded with giant craters. D_crit is the most recent crater to have formed on a blank slate; when it is equated to the measured diameter of the largest undegraded crater on known asteroids, peak particle velocities are found to attenuate with the 1.2–1.3 power of distance—less attenuative than strong shocks, and more characteristic of powerful seismic disturbances. This is to be expected, since global degradation can result from seismic (cm s^?1) particle velocities on small asteroids. Attenuation, as modeled, appears to be higher on asteroids known to be porous, although these are also bodies for which different crater scaling rules might apply.     

Rays and secondary craters of Tycho

The large, fresh crater Tycho in the nearside lunar highlands has an extensive system of bright rays covering approximately 560,000 km², containing dense clusters of secondary craters. Examination of crater densities in several clusters shows that Tycho produced almost 10⁶ secondary craters larger than 63 m diameter. This is a lower limit, because small crater densities are reduced, most likely by mass wasting. We estimate a crater erasure rate of 2-6 cm/Myr, varying with crater size, and consistent with previous results. This process has removed many small craters, and it is probable that the original number of secondary craters formed by Tycho was higher. Also, we can only identify distant secondaries of Tycho where they occur in bright rays. Craters on Mars and Europa also formed large numbers of secondaries, but under possibly ideal conditions for spallation as a mechanism to produce high-velocity ejecta fragments. The results from Tycho show that large numbers of such fragments can be produced even from impact into a heavily fragmented target on which spallation is expected to be less important.     

The large crater on the small Asteroid (2867) Steins

The maximum size of impact craters on finite bodies marks the largest impact that can occur short of impact induced disruption of the body. Recently attention has started to focus on large craters on small bodies such as asteroids and rocky and icy satellites. Here the large crater on the recently imaged Asteroid (2867) Steins (with crater diameter to mean asteroid radius ratio of 0.79) is shown to follow a limit set by other similar sized bodies with moderate macroporosity (i.e. fractured asteroids). Thus whilst large, the crater size is not novel, nor does it require Steins to possess an extremely large porosity. In one of the components of the binary Asteroid (90) Antiope there is the recently reported presence of an extremely large depression, possibly a crater, with depression diameter to mean asteroid radius ratio of ∼(1.4–1.62). This is consistent with the maximum size of a crater expected from previous observations of very porous rocky bodies (i.e. rubble-pile asteroids). Finally, a relationship between crater diameter (normalised to body radius) is proposed as a function of body porosity which suggests that the doubling of porosity between fractured asteroids and rubble-pile asteroids, nearly doubles the size (D/R value) of the largest crater sustainable on a rocky body.     

The Morphology of Small Craters and Knobs on the Surface of Jupiter's Satellite Callisto

Using the images of Callisto's surface acquired at 15-km resolution by the Galileo spacecraft during its C21 orbit, we studied the morphology of craters with diameters of less than 1–2 km and knobs. By analogy with other regions of Callisto that have been studied, these craters and knobs are thought to be formed by the sublimation degradation of the rims of larger craters that are also present in the region under study. The small craters closely resemble similar-sized lunar craters and, by analogy with the latter, are also divided into morphological classes. The depths of 42 craters of different morphological classes are estimated using shadow lengths visible in the craters. The fractions of the craters of different classes in the subpopulation are determined as a function of the crater diameter. Evidence has been obtained that larger craters degrade at a slower rate than smaller ones. The mean thickness of the mantle of dark material (40 m) is estimated from the sizes of the craters ejecting the blocks of the basement ice material. The shape of the knob shadows shows that the knobs are heights of mostly conical form with slopes whose steepness is close to the angle of repose. Analysis has shown that the observed landforms and material units of the region under investigation have been formed during two successive stages of the geologic history of Callisto. Large craters, knobs, and the mantle of dark material were formed mostly at the end of the period of heavy meteorite bombardment. The leading processes of this period are impact cratering, the sublimation of Callisto's crustal ice with the accumulation of residual non-icy material, and downslope mass movement. The next stage, which continues until the present time, involved the formation of the subpopulation of small (<1–2 km) craters. This formation was accompanied by the impact reworking of the upper portion of the dark mantle. The key processes occurring at this stage are impact cratering and downslope mass movement. The mean intensity of resurfacing at this stage is much lower than at the preceding stage.     

Regolith properties in the south polar region of the Moon from 70-cm radar polarimetry

The south polar region of the Moon contains areas permanently shadowed from solar illumination, which may provide cold traps for volatiles such as water ice. Previous radar studies have emphasized the search for diagnostic polarization signatures of thick ice in areas close to the pole, but near-surface regolith properties and regional geology are also important to upcoming orbital studies of the shadowed terrain. To study regional regolith variations, we collected 70-cm wavelength, 450-m resolution, dual-circular polarization radar data for latitudes 60-90° S using the Arecibo and Greenbank telescopes. The circular polarization ratio, μc, is sensitive to differences in rock abundance at the surface and up to tens of m below the surface, depending upon the regolith loss tangent. We observe significant variations in μc, attributed to changes in the surface and subsurface rock population, across the south polar highlands. Concentric haloes of low polarization ratio surrounding Hausen, Moretus, and other young craters represent rock-poor ejecta layers. Values of μc up to ∼1 occur in the floors and near-rim deposits of Eratosthenian and Copernican craters, consistent with abundant rocky ejecta and/or fractured impact melt. Enhanced μc values also correspond to areas mapped as Orientale-derived, plains-forming material [Wilhelms, D.E., Howard, K.A., Wilshire, H.G., 1979. USGS Map I-1162], and similar polarization properties characterize the permanently shadowed floors of craters Faustini and Shoemaker. Small areas of very high (>1.5) circular polarization ratio occur on shadowed and seasonally sunlit terrain, and appear to be associated with small craters. We suggest that regolith in low-lying areas near the south pole is characterized by a significant impact melt component from Orientale, which provides a source for excavation of the block-rich ejecta around small craters observed in this and earlier radar studies. The lower portion of the interior wall of Shackleton crater, permanently shadowed from the sun but visible from Earth, is not significantly different in 70-cm scattering properties from diurnally/seasonally sunlit areas of craters with similar morphology.     

Crater size-shape profiles for the moon and mercury: Terrain effects and interplanetary comparisons

New crater size-shape data were compiled for 221 fresh lunar craters and 152 youthful mercurian craters. Terraces and central peaks develop initially in fresh craters on the Moon in the 0–10 km diameter interval. Above a diameter of 65 km all craters are terraced and have central peaks. Swirl floor texture is most common in craters in the size range 20–30 km, but it occurs less frequently as terraces become a dominant feature of crater interiors. For the Moon there is a correlation between crater shape and geomorphic terrain type. For example, craters on the maria are more complex in terms of central peak and terrace detail at any given crater diameter than are craters in the highlands. These crater data suggest that there are significant differences in substrate and/or target properties between maria and highlands. Size-shape profiles for Mercury show that central peak and terrace onset is in the 10–20 km diameter interval; all craters are terraced at 65 km, and all have central peaks at 45 km. The crater data for Mercury show no clear cut terrain correlation. Comparison of lunar and mercurian data indicates that both central peaks and terraces are more abundant in craters in the diameter range 5–75 km on Mercury. Differences in crater shape between Mercury and the Moon may be due to differences in planetary gravitational acceleration (gMercury=2.3gMoon). Also differences between Mercury and the Moon in target and substrate and in modal impact velocity may contribute to affect crater shape.     

A mechanism for the production of lunar crater rays

Observations of high resolution photographs of part of one of the prominent rays of the lunar crater Copernicus show that there is a concentration of small bright rayed and haloed craters within the ray. These craters contribute to the overall ray brightness; they have been measured and their surface distribution has been mapped. Sixty-two percent of the bright craters can be identified from study of high resolution photographs as concentric impact craters. These craters contain in their ejecta blankets, rocks from the lunar substrate that are brighter than the adjacent mare surface. It is concluded that the brightness of the large ray from the crater Copernicus is due to the composite effect of many small concentric impact craters with rocky ejecta blankets. If this is the dominant mechanism for the production of other rays from Copernicus and other large lunar craters, then rays may not contain significant amounts of ejecta from the central crater or from large secondary craters. They may in fact only reflect local excavation of mare substrate material by myriads of small secondary or tertiary impact craters.     

The rayed crater Zunil and interpretations of small impact craters on Mars

A 10-km diameter crater named Zunil in the Cerberus Plains of Mars created ∼¹⁰⁷ secondary craters 10 to 200 m in diameter. Many of these secondary craters are concentrated in radial streaks that extend up to 1600 km from the primary crater, identical to lunar rays. Most of the larger Zunil secondaries are distinctive in both visible and thermal infrared imaging. MOC images of the secondary craters show sharp rims and bright ejecta and rays, but the craters are shallow and often noncircular, as expected for relatively low-velocity impacts. About 80% of the impact craters superimposed over the youngest surfaces in the Cerberus Plains, such as Athabasca Valles, have the distinctive characteristics of Zunil secondaries. We have not identified any other large (?10 km diameter) impact crater on Mars with such distinctive rays of young secondary craters, so the age of the crater may be less than a few Ma. Zunil formed in the apparently youngest (least cratered) large-scale lava plains on Mars, and may be an excellent example of how spallation of a competent surface layer can produce high-velocity ejecta (Melosh, 1984, Impact ejection, spallation, and the origin of meteorites, Icarus 59, 234-260). It could be the source crater for some of the basaltic shergottites, consistent with their crystallization and ejection ages, composition, and the fact that Zunil produced abundant high-velocity ejecta fragments. A 3D hydrodynamic simulation of the impact event produced 10¹⁰ rock fragments ?10 cm diameter, leading to up to 10⁹ secondary craters ?10 m diameter. Nearly all of the simulated secondary craters larger than 50 m are within 800 km of the impact site but the more abundant smaller (10-50 m) craters extend out to 3500 km. If Zunil is representative of large impact events on Mars, then secondaries should be more abundant than primaries at diameters a factor of ∼1000 smaller than that of the largest primary crater that contributed secondaries. As a result, most small craters on Mars could be secondaries. Depth/diameter ratios of 1300 small craters (10-500 m diameter) in Isidis Planitia and Gusev crater have a mean value of 0.08; the freshest of these craters give a ratio of 0.11, identical to that of fresh secondary craters on the Moon (Pike and Wilhelms, 1978, Secondary-impact craters on the Moon: topographic form and geologic process, Lunar Planet. Sci. IX, 907-909) and significantly less than the value of ∼0.2 or more expected for fresh primary craters of this size range. Several observations suggest that the production functions of Hartmann and Neukum (2001, Cratering chronology and the evolution of Mars, Space Sci. Rev. 96, 165-194) predict too many primary craters smaller than a few hundred meters in diameter. Fewer small, high-velocity impacts may explain why there appears to be little impact regolith over Amazonian terrains. Martian terrains dated by small craters could be older than reported in recent publications.     

Impact craters in the northern hemisphere of Mars: Layered ejecta and central pit characteristics

Abstract— Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) and Mars Odyssey data are being used to revise the Catalog of Large Martian Impact Craters. Analysis of data in the revised catalog provides new details on the distribution and morphologic details of 6795 impact craters in the northern hemisphere of Mars. This report focuses on the ejecta morphologies and central pit characteristics of these craters. The results indicate that single‐layer ejecta (SLE) morphology is most consistent with impact into an ice‐rich target. Double‐layer ejecta (DLE) and multiple‐layer ejecta (MLE) craters also likely form in volatile‐rich materials, but the interaction of the ejecta curtain and target‐produced vapor with the thin Martian atmosphere may be responsible for the large runout distances of these ejecta. Pancake craters appear to be a modified form of double‐layer craters where the thin outer layer has been destroyed or is unobservable at present resolutions. Pedestal craters are proposed to form in an icerich mantle deposited during high obliquity periods from which the ice has subsequently sublimated. Central pits likely form by the release of vapor produced by impact into ice‐soil mixed targets. Therefore, results from the present study are consistent with target volatiles playing a dominant role in the formation of crater morphologies found in the Martian northern hemisphere.     

Impact craters on Titan

Five certain impact craters and 44 additional nearly certain and probable ones have been identified on the 22% of Titan’s surface imaged by Cassini’s high-resolution radar through December 2007. The certain craters have morphologies similar to impact craters on rocky planets, as well as two with radar bright, jagged rims. The less certain craters often appear to be eroded versions of the certain ones. Titan’s craters are modified by a variety of processes including fluvial erosion, mass wasting, burial by dunes and submergence in seas, but there is no compelling evidence of isostatic adjustments as on other icy moons, nor draping by thick atmospheric deposits. The paucity of craters implies that Titan’s surface is quite young, but the modeled age depends on which published crater production rate is assumed. Using the model of Artemieva and Lunine (2005) suggests that craters with diameters smaller than about 35 km are younger than 200 million years old, and larger craters are older. Craters are not distributed uniformly; Xanadu has a crater density 2-9 times greater than the rest of Titan, and the density on equatorial dune areas is much lower than average. There is a small excess of craters on the leading hemisphere, and craters are deficient in the north polar region compared to the rest of the world. The youthful age of Titan overall, and the various erosional states of its likely impact craters, demonstrate that dynamic processes have destroyed most of the early history of the moon, and that multiple processes continue to strongly modify its surface. The existence of 24 possible impact craters with diameters less than 20 km appears consistent with the Ivanov, Basilevsky and Neukum (1997) model of the effectiveness of Titan’s atmosphere in destroying most but not all small projectiles.     

Martian planetwide crater distributions: Implications for geologic history and surface processes

Population-density maps of craters in three size ranges (0.6 to 1.2 km, 4 to 10 km, and >20 km in diameter) were compiled for most of Mars from Mariner 9 imagery. These data provide: historical records of the eolian processes (0.6 to 1.2 km craters); stratigraphic, relative, and absolute timescales (4 to 10 km craters); and a history of the early postaccretional evolution of the uplands (> 20 km craters).Based on the distribution of large craters (>20 km diameters), Mars is divisible into two general classes of terrain, densely cratered and very lightly cratered—a division remarkably like the uplands-maria dichotomy of the moon. It is probable that this bimodal character in the density distribution of large craters arose from an abrupt transition in the impact flux rate from an early intense period associated with the tailing off of accretion to an extended quiescent epoch, not from a void in geological activity during much of Mars' history. Radio-isotope studies of Apollo lunar samples show that this transition occurred on the moon in a short time.The intermediate-sized craters (4 to 10 km diameter) and the small-sized craters (0.6 to 1.2 km diameter) appear to be genetically related. The smaller ones are apparently secondary impact craters generated by the former. Most of the craters in the larger of these two size classes appear fresh and uneroded, although many are partly buried by dust mantles. Poleward of the 40° parallels the small fresh craters are notably absent owing to these mantles. The density of small craters is highest in an irregular band centered at 20°S. This band coincides closely with (1) the zone of permanent low-albedo markings; (2) the “wind equator” (the latitude of zero net north or south transport at the surface); and (3) a band that includes a majority of the small dendritic channels. Situated in the southermost part of the equatorial unmantled terrain which extends from about 40°N to 40°S, this band is apparently devoid of even a thin mantle. Because this belt is also coincident with the latitutde of maximum solar insolation (periapsis occurs near summer solstice), we suggest that this band arises from the asymmetrical global wind patterns at the surface and that the band probably follows the latitude of maximum heating which migrates north and south from 25°N to 25°S within the unmantled terrain on a 50,000 year timescale.The population of intermediate-sized craters (4–10 km diameter) appears unaffected by the eolian mantles, at least within the ±45° latitudes. Hence the local density of these craters is probably a valid indicator of the relative age of surfaces generated during the period since the uplands were intensely bombarded and eroded. It now appears that the impact fluxes at Mars and the moon have been roughly the same over the last 4 b.y. because the oldest postaccretional, mare-like surfaces on Mars and the moon display about the same crater density. If so, the nearness of Mars to the asteroid belt has not generated a flux 10 to 25 times greater than the lunar flux. Whereas the lunar maria show a variation of about a factor of three in crater density from the oldest to the youngest major units, analogous surfaces on Mars show a variation between 30 and 50. This implies that periods of active eolian erosion, tectonic evolution, volcanic eruption, and possibly fluvial modification have been scattered throughout Martian history since the formation and degradation of the martian uplands and not confined to small, ancient or recent, epochs. These processes are surely active on the planet today.     

The observational evidence for mass distribution in the meteoritic complex

The integrated mass indexS for solid particles in the solar system is defined by the equationN = (const)m ^–S, whereN is the number of particles counted down to a lower limit of massm. Independent values ofS found from various observational programs are reviewed. These lie generally in the range from 0.4 to 1.4 for the average background of particles, and include data from lunar craters, satellite impacts, meteors, meteorites and asteroids. The trend ofS with mass is reasonably well established for masses less than one gram, but there are many gaps in our knowledge concerning the objects of greater mass.Paper dedicated to Prof. Harold C. Urey on the occasion of his 80th birthday on 29 April 1973.     

On the Modeling of the Disruption of Cosmic Bodies at High-Speed Impacts

The results of the experimental study of the interaction of polyethylene impactors with a massive flat organic-glass target are presented. The impactor speed ranged from 3.2 to 5.84 km/s. A statistical analysis of the mass and size distributions of fragments of the impact and chop craters of the target is done. As a result, some scaling relations are established for the geometric size of the craters, the cumulative ejected mass, the mass of the largest fragment ejected from the impact crater, and for the dust mass. The mass distribution of the impact-crater fragments is shown to obey a power law and agrees well with other authors" data for some materials. The critical impact energy _k , resulting in the catastrophic disruption of the target into individual fragments, is estimated. For organic glass, the value of _k is found to be 4 × 10⁴J/kg. The mass of the largest (central) fragment accounts for 27 to 33% of the overall mass ejected from the impact crater. The use of the parameter ₃= _p / _p v ² ₀gives the best fit to the observational data for the masses released from the impact and chop craters.