Other
Scientific paper
Jul 1994
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994metic..29r.471h&link_type=abstract
Meteoritics (ISSN 0026-1114), vol. 29, no. 4, p. 471-472
Other
Atmospheric Pressure, Mars (Planet), Meteorite Craters, Planetary Atmospheres, Titan, Atmospheric Density, Bolides, Chondrites, Erosion, Size Distribution
Scientific paper
Recent work opens new opportunities to apply the record of impact cratering on Mars and Titan to the study of the historical behavior of their atmospheres, in particular density fluctuations. Magellan showed that the Venus crater diameter distribution reveals the distinctive signature of a diameter cutoff, due to the destruction of small bolides by the dense atmosphere. The work of Chyba et al. extends earlier work by Melosh and others on the breakup of bolides in current-day planetary atmospheres. Chyba's program was modified and used to calculate the smallest bolides that would impact the surfaces of Mars and Titan, under different assumed ancient and modern atmospheric conditions. Our techniques for Mars include calculation of the smallest bolides reaching the surface for various atmospheric densities, including the present density, assuming for various realistic asteroid and comets strengths; prediction of the resulting crater diameter distribution; search for atmosphere-induced cutoffs in the cratering size distributions on surfaces of various ages; and recognition and cataloging of tight clusters of small craters that may be records of atmospheric breakup of weak bolides. Although the atmospheric pressure of Titan is only somewhat above Earth's, the atmosphere of Titan is more like that of Venus in its very strong filtering effect on bolides; this results from the large scale height and total mass. Our preliminary predictions indicate that the smallest craters produced under the current atmosphere would be tens of kilometers across, and there may good opportunities for Cassini radar studies of the crater diameter distributions to reveal characteristics of the ancient atmospheric density evolution.
Engel Sandra
Hartmann William K.
Lunine Jonathan
No associations
LandOfFree
Using the meteorite cratering record to study the ancient martian and titan atmospheres 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 Using the meteorite cratering record to study the ancient martian and titan atmospheres, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Using the meteorite cratering record to study the ancient martian and titan atmospheres will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-822313