Premium
Small‐scale impacts into rock: An evaluation of the effects of target temperature on experimental results
Author(s) -
Smrekar Suzanne,
Cintala Mark J.,
Hörz Friedrich
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/gl013i008p00745
Subject(s) - thermal , environmental science , impact crater , series (stratigraphy) , materials science , geology , astrobiology , meteorology , physics , paleontology
A series of cratering and catastrophic fragmentation experiments has been performed, involving the impact of aluminum and stainless ‐ steel spheres into warm (∼298K) and cold (∼100K) granodiorite targets. Although some vague hints of a thermal effect might be found in some of the results, in no case was there a substantial difference between the warm and cold series. Since these experiments were well within the strength‐dominated regime of impact phenomena, variations due to low target temperatures in more energetic events will probably be negligible. Thus, there appear to be no significant temperature‐dependent mechanical effects during impact into solid rock over a wide range of temperatures prevalent in the solar system.