Possible Evidence of Yarkovsky Depletion of Debris from the Asteroid Belt and Effects on Asteroid Surfaces

Details Possible Evidence of Yarkovsky Depletion of Debris from the Asteroid Belt and Effects on Asteroid Surfaces Possible Evidence of Yarkovsky Depletion of Debris from the Asteroid Belt and Effects on Asteroid Surfaces

Sep 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996dps....28.1035h&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #28, #10.35; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 28, p.1103

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

2

Scientific paper

On Ida, a ``normal'' saturation equilibrium size distribution of craters is found. On Gaspra, however, an ``anomalous'' distribution rises steeply above the saturation equilibrium line at diameter D ~ 300-400 m, while falling below it at large sizes (Neukum and Ivanov 1994, in Hazards Due to Comets and Asteroids; Chapman et al. 1996, Icarus 120, 77-86; Chapman et al. 1996, Icarus 120, 231-245). We link the behavior on Gaspra to possible depletion of 1-30 m asteroids in the belt by the Yarkovsky effect. In a numerical simulation of saturation cratering effects, Hartmann and Gaskell (submitted to Meteoritics and Planetary Science) found an effect similar to that on Gaspra when they depleted the subresolution crater population that ``sandblasts'' the surface at subresolution scales. Loss of the ``sandblasting'' at scale D allows an excess buildup of slightly larger craters to supersaturation. The ``anomalous'' supersaturation of Gaspra could thus result from the Yarkovsky depletion of stony debris in the asteroid belt at D< tens of meters (Peterson 1976, Icarus 29, 91-111; Burns et al. 1979, Icarus 40, 1-48). For example, Peterson finds that a 1 meter boulder would be removed from the belt in <30 My. Boulders of 1-30 m hitting stony asteroids at 5 km/s produce craters in the diameter range 8-300 m. The depletion of these impactors would thus reduce ``sandblasting'' of the 300-500 m Gaspra craters by subresolution impacts, allowing the excess buildup of those craters as per the Hartmann/Gaskell result. This effect would not be prominent on the moon, because secondary debris at all sizes from lunar craters falls back onto the moon at modest speeds. The surface character of Phobos and Deimos could be still different, because their debris neither fall back nor are lost, but circulate in the dust belts predicted by Soter, before reimpacting. If these inferences are correct, they could be valuable in interpreting the surface characters of asteroids in comparison to those of the moon, Phobos, and Deimos.

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