Morphology and population of binary asteroid impact craters
Access Status
Authors
Date
2013Type
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Source Title
ISSN
Collection
Abstract
Observational data show that in the Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) region 15% of asteroids are binary. However, the observed number of plausible doublet craters is 2–4% on Earth and 2–3% on Mars. This discrepancy between the percentage of binary asteroids and doublets on Earth and Mars may imply that not all binary systems form a clearly distinguishable doublet crater owing to insufficient separation between the binary components at the point of impact. We simulate the crater morphology formed in close binary asteroid impacts in a planetary environment and the range of possible crater morphologies includes: single (circular or elliptical) craters, overlapping (tear-drop or peanut shaped) craters, as well as clearly distinct, doublet craters. While the majority of binary asteroids impacting Earth or Mars should form a single, circular crater, about one in four are expected to form elongated or overlapping impact craters and one in six are expected to be doublets. This implies that doublets are formed in approximately 2% of all asteroid impacts on Earth and that elongated or overlapping binary impact craters are under-represented in the terrestrial crater record. The classification of a complete range of binary asteroid impact crater structures provides a template for binary asteroid impact crater morphologies, which can help in identifying planetary surface features observed by remote sensing.
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Schmieder, Martin; Trieloff, M.; Schwarz, W.H.; Schwarz, W.; Buchner, E.; Jourdan, Fred (2014)In their recent paper, Miljkovic et al.(2013) assess the apparent contradiction that the near-Earth asteroid population consists of 15% binaries, while the terrestrial (and Martian) impact crater populations have only ...
-
Lowery, C.; Bralower, T.; Owens, J.; Rodríguez-Tovar, F.; Jones, H.; Smit, J.; Whalen, M.; Claeys, P.; Farley, K.; Gulick, S.; Morgan, J.; Green, S.; Chenot, E.; Christeson, G.; Cockell, C.; Coolen, Marco; Ferrière, L.; Gebhardt, C.; Goto, K.; Kring, D.; Lofi, J.; Ocampo-Torres, R.; Perez-Cruz, L.; Pickersgill, A.; Poelchau, M.; Rae, A.; Rasmussen, C.; Rebolledo-Vieyra, M.; Riller, U.; Sato, H.; Tikoo, S.; Tomioka, N.; Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J.; Vellekoop, J.; Wittmann, A.; Xiao, L.; Yamaguchi, K.; Zylberman, W. (2018)The Cretaceous/Palaeogene mass extinction eradicated 76% of species on Earth1,2. It was caused by the impact of an asteroid3,4on the Yucatán carbonate platform in the southern Gulf of Mexico 66 million years ago5, forming ...
-
Collins, G.; Artemieva, N.; Wünnemann, K.; Bland, Phil; Reimold, W.; Koeberl, C. (2008)In a provocative paper Gasperini et al. (2007) suggest that Lake Cheko, a ~300-m-wide lake situated a few kilometres downrange from the assumed epicentre of the 1908 Tunguska event, is an impact crater. In this response, ...