Late Heavy Bombardment: Evidence From Cratering Histories of the Moon, Planets, Satellites, and Asteroids

Details Late Heavy Bombardment: Evidence From Cratering Histories of the Moon, Planets, Satellites, and Asteroids Late Heavy Bombardment: Evidence From Cratering Histories of the Moon, Planets, Satellites, and Asteroids

Oct 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007dps....39.4601c&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #39, #46.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.504

Other

Scientific paper

The early impact history of planetary surfaces is recorded by densely cratered terrains and large basins. Still earlier bombardment is obscured by crater saturation. Heavy bombardment ended quite abruptly on the Moon (and presumably Earth) by 3.8 Ga. It is less clear, from cratering evidence, whether the bombardment around 3.9 Ga was a "cataclysm" or instead typical of high impact rates subsequent to lunar crust solidification. The only firm data tying an absolute chronology to a cratering record are for the Moon, where associations between dated samples and specific basins or impact events are often ambiguous due to uncertain megaregolith processes. Alternative attempts to establish basin chronologies (e.g. by using crustal viscosity) have uncertain validity.
It is tempting to extrapolate the lunar LHB to the other terrestrial planets, the asteroids, and satellites of the outer planets. But there are no other measurements of absolute chronology, except for one Martian meteorite and asteroidal meteorites of uncertain provenance. We can compare the size frequency distributions (SFDs) for crater populations on different planets and satellites with observed or supposed SFDs for different mixes of projectile populations (asteroids, comets, planetocentric bodies, vulcanoids, and other planetesimals). But cratering records are confused by saturation and other crater degradational processes, and collisional processes may have homogenized any unique SFDs that projectile populations originally had.
I address evidence about whether an LHB happened on the Moon, its duration, the timescale over which it ended, and its generality to other solar system locations. A return to the Moon could determine when the bombardment began (South Pole-Aitken basin?) and ended (Orientale), possibly resolving which dynamical cause was responsible, with attendant implications for planetary histories. For example, a general cataclysm would imply that observable Martian geology postdates 4.0 Ga.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Late Heavy Bombardment: Evidence From Cratering Histories of the Moon, Planets, Satellites, and Asteroids does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Late Heavy Bombardment: Evidence From Cratering Histories of the Moon, Planets, Satellites, and Asteroids, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Late Heavy Bombardment: Evidence From Cratering Histories of the Moon, Planets, Satellites, and Asteroids will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1066789