Impact cratering and break up of the small icy bodies of the Solar System

Details Impact cratering and break up of the small icy bodies of the Solar System Impact cratering and break up of the small icy bodies of the Solar System

Mar 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004aps..mard28006l&link_type=abstract

American Physical Society, March Meeting 2004, March 22-26, 2004, Palais des Congres de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, MEET

Physics

Scientific paper

Observations of the solid (icy or rocky) and atmosphere-less bodies of the Solar System indicate that surfaces of many of them have evolved due to impacts. So, the statistic of the craters covering the surfaces as well as the morphology of individual craters are crucial for searching the processes of evolution. Let the radius of the target body is R and the diameter of the largest impact crater observed on this body is D. Let Dc is the diameter of the largest crater that can be formed on the body without shattering it. The ratio D/R for several icy bodies (the small satellites of the giant planets) as well as for the rocky bodies (the asteroids) have been studied versus their observed size R and density ρ, and versus their expected mineral to total mass ratio C and porosity ψ. On that basis a ratio D_c/R that divides cratering of the target surface from shuttering of the target was estimated. By means of the scaling laws this ratio is fitted to limiting energy Ec of the impactor that could be sustained by the target without its shuttering. Experimental results get in the laboratories when extrapolated to asteroidal scale ( ˜10 km) give: (i) The ratio D_c/R<1 for the icy bodies and D_c/R>1 for the rocky bodies. (ii) Icy targets are easier to be shattered than the rocky ones. (iii) Highly porous icy targets are more resistant than low porous ones.

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