Material Science and Impact Crater Formation

Abstract

The surfaces of solid objects in our planetary system are dappled with craters. Some of them are due to impacts of various solid projectiles into the surfaces of the objects. A smaller part of these craters is of volcanic origin. On the Earth,two most often mentioned such events are the "Tunguska event" of 1908. and the impact which led to the formation of the Barringer crater in Arizona. Impact craters are frequently analyzed within the "scaling theory", which is founded on dimensional analysis. The same problem can be treated by using standard laws of material science and condensed matter physics. In this chapter the two approaches will be compared and possibilities for future work indicated to some extent. Some preliminary conclusions concerning an impact into a granular target will be presented.