Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T15:41:39.789Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - Impact structures on Earth and Mars

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2009

By
Nadine G. Barlow ,
Virgil Sharpton  and
Ruslan O. Kuzmin
Edited by
Mary Chapman
Nadine G. Barlow
Affiliation:
Dept. Physics and Astronomy, Northern Arizona University
Virgil Sharpton
Affiliation:
Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska
Ruslan O. Kuzmin
Affiliation:
Vernadsky Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences
Mary Chapman
Affiliation:
United States Geological Survey, Arizona
Get access

Summary

Introduction

Every solid-surfaced body in the Solar System except Io shows evidence of the impact cratering process, and Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 showed that impacts can even temporarily leave their mark on gas planets. Earth's active geologic environment has erased much of its cratering record, particularly from the early episode of high impact rates known as the late heavy bombardment period (>3.8 Gyr ago). In comparison, ∼60% of the Martian surface preserves the late heavy bombardment record. Mars retains the most complete record of impact cratering in the entire Solar System (Barlow, 1988) and these craters display a range of morphologic features seldom seen on other solid-surface bodies. Comparison of terrestrial and Martian craters provides a more thorough understanding of impact structures: Mars preserves the pristine morphologic features which erosion has largely destroyed for terrestrial craters, but terrestrial studies allow us to understand subsurface structures and materials resulting from impact for which we currently have no information on Mars. Presence of an atmosphere and subsurface volatiles suggests that crater formation may be more similar on these two bodies than between Earth and Moon.

Understanding how impact craters form results from laboratory experiments, computer simulations, nuclear and chemical explosions, and terrestrial crater studies. Laboratory experiments were instrumental in realizing that high-velocity impacts create approximately circular craters except at low impact angles (Gault and Wedekind, 1979). Nuclear and large chemical explosions provided the first opportunity to study the physics of crater formation (Oberbeck, 1977).

Type
Chapter
Information
The Geology of Mars
Evidence from Earth-Based Analogs
 , pp. 47 - 70
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bandfield, J. L., Hamilton, V. E., and Christensen, P. R. (2000). A global view of Martian surface compositions from MGS-TES. Science, 287, 1626–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barlow, N. G. (1988). Crater size-frequency distributions and a revised Martian relative chronology. Icarus, 75, 285–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barlow, N. G. and Bradley, T. L. (1990). Martian impact craters: correlations of ejecta and interior morphologies with diameter, latitude, and terrain. Icarus, 87, 156–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barlow, N. G. and Perez, C. B. (2003). Martian impact crater ejecta morphologies as indicators of the distribution of subsurface volatiles. Journal of Geophysical Research, 108, 5085, doi: 10.1029/2002JE002036.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barlow, N. G., Koroshetz, J., and Dohm, J. M. (2001). Variations in the onset diameter for Martian layered ejecta morphologies and their implications for subsurface volatile reservoirs. Geophysical Research Letters, 28, 3095–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barlow, N. G., Boyce, J. M., Costard, F. M., Craddock, R. A., Garvin, J. B., Sakimoto, S. E. H.et al. (2000). Standardizing the nomenclature of Martian impact crater ejecta morphologies. Journal of Geophysical Research, 105, 26733–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnouin-Jha, O. S., Schultz, P. H., and Lever, J. H. (1999a). Investigating the interactions between an atmosphere and an ejecta curtain. 1. Wind tunnel tests. Journal of Geophysical Research, 104, 27105–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnouin-Jha, O. S., Schultz, P. H., and Lever, J. H. (1999b). Investigating the interactions between an atmosphere and an ejecta curtain. 2. Numerical experiments. Journal of Geophysical Research, 104, 27117–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bottomley, R., Grieve, R., York, D., and Masaitis, V. (1997). The age of the Popigai impact event and its relation to events in the stratigraphic column. Nature, 388, 365–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyce, J. M., Roddy, D. J., Soderblom, L. A., and Hare, T. (2000). Global distribution of on-set diameters of rampart ejecta craters on Mars: their implications to the history of Martian water. Abstracts of Papers Submitted to the 31st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Houston: Lunar and Planetary Institute, CD 31, Abstract 1167.Google Scholar
Carr, M. H. (1996). Water on Mars. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Carr, M. H., Crumpler, L. S., Cutts, J. A., Greeley, R., Guest, J. E., and Masursky, H. (1977). Martian impact craters and emplacement of ejecta by surface flow. Journal of Geophysical Research, 82, 4055–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chao, E. C. (1977). The Ries Crater of southern Germany, a model for large basins on planetary surface. Geologisches Jahrbuch, 44, 3–81.Google Scholar
Costard, F. M. (1989). The spatial distribution of volatiles in the Martian hydrolithosphere. Earth Moon and Planets, 45, 265–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craddock, R. A. and Howard, A. D. (2002). The case for rainfall on a warm, wet early Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research, 107, 10.1029/2001JE001505.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dietz, R. S. (1959). Shatter cones in cryptoexplosion structures (meteorite impact?). Journal of Geology, 67, 496–505.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, W. C., Boynton, W. V., Tokar, R. L. et al. (2002). Global distribution of neutrons from Mars: results from Mars Odyssey. Science, 297, 75–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
French, B. M. (1998). Traces of Catastrophe: A Handbook of Shock-Metamorphic Effects in Terrestrial Meteorite Impact Structures, Lunar and Planetary Science Contribution 954. Houston: Lunar and Planetary Institute.Google Scholar
Garvin, J. B., Sakimoto, S. E. H., Frawley, J. J., and Schnetzler, C. (2000). North polar region craterforms on Mars: geometric characteristics from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter. Icarus, 144, 329–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garvin, J. B., Sakimoto, S. E. H., Frawley, J. J., and Schnetzler, C. (2002). Global geometric properties of Martian impact craters. Abstracts of Papers Submitted to the 33rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Houston: Lunar and Planetary Institute, CD 33, Abstract 1255.Google Scholar
Gault, D. E. and Wedekind, J. A. (1979). Experimental studies of oblique impact. Proceedings of the 9th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Houston: Lunar and Planetary Institute, pp. 3843–75.Google Scholar
Gault, D. E., Quaide, W. L., and Oberbeck, V. R. (1968). Impact cratering mechanics and structures. In Shock Metamorphism of Natural Materials, ed. French, B. M. and Short, N. M.. Baltimore, MD: Mono Book, pp. 87–99.Google Scholar
Grant, J. A. and Schultz, P. H. (1993a). Degradation of selected terrestrial and Martian impact craters. Journal of Geophysical Research, 98, 11025–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grant, J. A. and Schultz, P. H. (1993b). Erosion of ejecta at Meteor Crater, Arizona. Journal of Geophysical Research, 98, 15033–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greeley, R., Fink, J., Gault, D. E.et al. (1980). Impact cratering in viscous targets: laboratory experiments. Proceedings of the 11th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Houston: Lunar and Planetary Institute, pp. 2075–97.Google Scholar
Grieve, R. A. F. (1988). The Haughton impact structure: summary and synthesis of the results of the HISS project. Meteoritics, 23, 249–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hörz, F., Ostertag, R., and Rainey, D. A. (1983). Bunte Breccia of the Ries: continuous deposits of large impact craters. Reviews of Geophysics and Space Physics, 21, 1167–725.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ivanov, B. A. (1999). Numerical modeling of cratering (in Russian). In Deep Drilling in the Puchezh-Katunki Impact Structure, ed. Masaitis, V. L. and Pevzner, L. A.. Special Publication of the VSEGEI Press, pp. 276–86.Google Scholar
Jankowski, D. G. and Squyres, S. W. (1992). The topography of impact craters in “softened” terrain on Mars. Icarus, 100, 26–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jessberger, E. K. (1988). 40Ar-39Ar dating of the Haughton impact structure. Meteoritics, 23, 233–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuzmin, R. O., Bobina, N. N., Zabalueva, E. V., and Shashkina, V. P. (1988). Structural inhomogeneities of the Martian cryosphere. Solar System Research, 22, 121–33.Google Scholar
Lee, P., Bunch, T. E., Cabrol, N. et al. (1998). Haughton-Mars 97 – I: overview of observations at Haughton Impact Crater, a unique Mars analog site in the Canadian High Arctic. Abstracts of Papers Submitted to the 29th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Houston: Lunar and Planetary Institute, CD 29, Abstract 1973.Google Scholar
Malin, M. C. and Edgett, K. S. (2000). Sedimentary rocks of early Mars. Science, 290, 1927–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Masaitis, V. L. (1998). Popigai crater: origin and distribution of diamond-bearing impactites. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 33, 349–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masaitis, V. L. (1999). Impact structures of northeastern Eurasia: the territories of Russia and adjacent countries. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 34, 691–711.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masaitis, V. L., Mikhailov, M. V., and Selivanovskaya, T. V. (1975). The Popigai Meteorite Crater (in Russian). Moscow: Nauka Press.Google Scholar
Masaitis, V. L., Naumov, M. V., and Ivanov, B. A. (1993). Fluidized ejecta of Puchezh-Katunki impact crater: possible implications to rampart craters of Mars. Vernadsky Institute-Brown University Microsymposium, 18, 45–56.Google Scholar
Masaitis, V. L., Mashchak, M. S., and Naumov, M. V. (1996). Puchezh-Katunki astrobleme: structural model of the gigantic impact crater (in Russian). Solar System Research, 30, 5–13.Google Scholar
Masaitis, V. L., Danilin, V. N., Mashchak, M. S.et al. (1980). The Geology of Astroblemes (in Russian). Leningrad: Nedra Press.Google Scholar
Mashchak, M. C. and Naumov, M. B. (1999). Morphology and interior structure of the Puchezh-Katunki impact structure (in Russian). In Deep Drilling in the Puchezh-Katunki Impact Structure, ed. Masaitis, V. L. and Pevzner, L. A.. Special Publication of the VSEGEI Press, pp. 187–99.Google Scholar
Melosh, H. J. (1989). Impact Cratering: A Geologic Process. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Melosh, H. J. , H. J. and McKinnon, W. B. (1978). The mechanics of ringed basin formation. Geophysical Research Letters, 5, 985–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Melosh, H. J. and Vickery, A. M. (1989). Impact erosion of the primordial atmosphere of Mars. Nature, 338, 487–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mitrofanov, I. G., Anfimov, D., Kozyrev, A.et al. (2002). Maps of subsurface hydrogen from the High Energy Neutron Detector, Mars. Science, 297, 78–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mouginis-Mark, P. (1979). Martian fluidized crater morphology: variations with crater size, latitude, altitude, and target material. Journal of Geophysical Research, 84, 8011–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mouginis-Mark, P. J. (1987). Water or ice in the Martian regolith? Clues from rampart craters seen at very high resolution. Icarus, 71, 268–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naumov, M. V. (1999). Hydrothermal-metasomatic mineral formation (in Russian). In Deep Drilling in the Puchezh-Kutunki Impact Structure, ed. Masaitis, V. L. and Pevzner, L. A.. Special Publication of the VSEGEI Press, pp. 276–86.Google Scholar
Newsom, H. E., Graup, G., Sewards, T., and Keil, K. (1986). Fluidization and hydrothermal alteration of the suevite deposit at the Ries Crater, West Germany, and implications for Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research, 91, E239–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oberbeck, V. R. (1975). The role of ballistic erosion and sedimentation in lunar stratigraphy. Reviews of Geophysics & Space Physics, 13, 337–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oberbeck, V. R. (1977). Applications of high explosion cratering data to planetary problems. In Impact and Explosion Cratering, ed. Roddy, D. J., Pepin, R. O., and Merrill, R. B.. New York: Pergamon Press, pp. 45–65.Google Scholar
Osinski, G. R., Spray, J. G., and Lee, P. (2001). Impact-induced hydrothermal activity within the Haughton impact structure, arctic Canada: generation of a transient, warm, wet oasis. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 36, 731–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pohl, J., Stöffler, D., Gall, H., and Ernstson, K. (1977). The Ries impact crater. In Impact and Explosion Cratering, ed. Roddy, D. J., Pepin, R. O., and Merrill, R. B.. New York: Pergamon Press, pp. 343–404.Google Scholar
Robertson, P. B. and Grieve, R. A. F. (1978). The Haughton impact structure. Meteoritics, 13, 615–19.Google Scholar
Robertson, P. B. and Sweeney, J. F. (1983). Haughton impact structure: structural and morphological aspects. Canadian Journal of Earth Science, 20, 1134–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roddy, D. J. and Davis, L. K. (1977). Shatter cones formed in large-scale experimental explosion craters. In Impact and Explosion Cratering, ed. Roddy, D. J., Pepin, R. O., and Merrill, R. B.. New York: Pergamon Press, pp. 715–50.Google Scholar
Schultz, P. H. and Gault, D. E. (1979). Atmospheric effects on Martian ejecta emplacement. Journal of Geophysical Research, 84, 7669–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharpton, V. L., Dressler, B. O., and Sharpton, T. J. (1998). Mapping the Haughton Impact Crater, Devon Island, NWT: implications for the shape and size of the excavation cavity. Abstracts of Papers Submitted to the 29th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Houston: Lunar and Planetary Institute, CD 29, Abstract 1867.Google Scholar
Shoemaker, E. M. (1963). Impact mechanics at Meteor Crater, Arizona. In The Moon, Meteorites, and Comets, ed. Middlehurst, B. M. and Kuiper, G. P., Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 301–36.Google Scholar
Stewart, S. T., O'Keefe, J. D., and Ahrens, T. J. (2001). The relationship between rampart crater morphologies and the amount of subsurface ice. Abstracts of Papers Submitted to the 32nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Houston: Lunar and Planetary Institute, CD 32, Abstract 2092.Google Scholar
Stöffler, D. (1972). Deformation and transformation of rock-forming minerals by natural and experimental shock processes: I. Behavior of minerals under shock compression. Fortschritte der Minerae, 49, 50–113.Google Scholar
Strom, R. G., Croft, S. K., and Barlow, N. G. (1992). The Martian impact cratering record. In Mars, ed. Kieffer, H. H., Jakosky, B. M., Snyder, C. W., and Matthews, M. S.. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, pp. 383–423.Google Scholar
Sutton, S. R. (1985). Thermoluminescence measurements on shock-metamorphosed sandstone and dolomite from Meteor Crater, Arizona: 2. Thermoluminescence age of Meteor Crater. Journal of Geophysical Research, 90, 3690–700.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engelhardt, W. (1990). Distribution, petrography and shock metamorphism of the ejecta of the Ries crater in Germany – a review. Tectonophysics, 171, 259–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engelhardt, W., Arndt, J., Fecker, B., and Pankau, H. G. (1995). Suevite breccia from the Ries crater, Germany: origin, cooling history and devitrification of impact glasses: Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 30, 279–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, C. A., Head, J. W., and Cintala, M. J. (1978). Interior morphology of fresh Martian craters: the effects of target characteristics. Proceedings of the 9th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Houston: Lunar and Planetary Institute, pp. 3691–709.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×