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EOS, TRANSACTIONS AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION, VOL. 84, NO. 31, doi:10.1029/2003EO310006, 2003

Improving Knowledge of Impact Cratering: Bringing Together “Modelers” and “Observationalists”

Robert R. Herrick

Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Tex.


Elisabetta Pierazzo

Planetary Sciences Institute, Tucson, Ariz.


Abstract

Formation of a planetary-scale impact crater hundreds of meters to hundreds of kilometers in diameter involves the interplay of multiphase processes occurring over size- and time-scales that range many orders of magnitude. To further complicate matters, a hypervelocity impact into geologic materials has never been observed at greater than laboratory scales. Understanding the formation process clearly is a very complicated problem that requires a highly interdisciplinary approach. Significant work has been done recently in several key areas of impact studies, but in many respects, there is a “disconnect” among groups employing different approaches. This pertains, in particular, to modeling versus observations. About 60 scientists gathered at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas, USA, for a workshop devoted to improving knowledge of the impact cratering process. The workshop was designed to bring these disparate groups together for an open dialogue to answer outstanding questions about the impact process and to set future research directions. Participants gathered from five continents with research specialties ranging from numerical modeling to field geology, and from small-scale experimentation and geochemical sample analysis to seismology and planetary remote sensing. “Modelers” were asked to address the question of what observations would better constrain their models, while “observationalists” were asked to discuss how their observations can constrain modeling efforts.

Index Terms: 5420 Planetology: Solid Surface Planets: Impact phenomena (includes cratering); 6022 Planetology: Comets and Small Bodies: Impact phenomena; 6205 Planetology: Solar System Objects: Asteroids and meteoroids.

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Citation: Herrick, R. R., and E. Pierazzo (2003), Improving Knowledge of Impact Cratering: Bringing Together “Modelers” and “Observationalists”, Eos Trans. AGU, 84(31), doi:10.1029/2003EO310006.