Date post: | 31-Dec-2015 |
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The Solar System
• Nine Eight Planets• Over 170,000 catalogued asteroids• ???? Centaurs• ???? KBO’s (including one disgruntled ex-
planet)• Millions of Comets
Impact Mechanics• Energy of motion turns into heat• 10-m rock at 20 km/sec = 150 kt = 10
Hiroshima atomic bombs• Energy released in seconds• Impacting object destroyed• Crater 20-30 times diameter of impacting
object• Crater is round regardless of approach path
The Impact Process
• Atmospheric Entry• Contact-Compression • Penetration – Transient Crater• Excavation• Collapse
Recognizing Craters on Earth• Craters rapidly destroyed by erosion• Circular geologic structures• Impact melts• Impact breccias• Shock metamorphism• Shatter cones