HR: 11:35h
AN: P42A-06    [Abstracts]
TI: Crustal Redistribution From Planetary Scale Impacts on Mars
AU: * Marinova, M M
EM: mmm@caltech.edu
AF: California Institute of Technology, MC 150-21, Pasadena, CA 91125 United States
AU: Aharonson, O
EM: oa@caltech.edu
AF: California Institute of Technology, MC 150-21, Pasadena, CA 91125 United States
AU: Asphaug, E
EM: asphaug@es.ucsc.edu
AF: University of California, Santa Cruz, Earth Sciences Dept. 1156 High St., Santa Cruz, CA 95064 United States
AB: The Martian hemispheric dichotomy -- expressed as differences in surface elevation, crustal thickness, and surface age between the northern lowlands and the southern highlands -- may have formed through endogenic processes (degree-1 mantle convection) or exogenic processes (a single or multiple large impacts). We examine the hypothesis that a single large impact may have formed the dichotomy. We consider mass redistribution and crater morphology on a spherical surface, and use a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) model to simulate the impact. We explore the parameter space of impactor size and velocity, and the effects on melt production and crustal disruption are analyzed. A variable particle-sizing scheme to increase resolution at the planetary surface is developed and tested.
DE: 5420 Impact phenomena, cratering (6022, 8136)
DE: 6225 Mars
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005