SCIENCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO ACHIEVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF CRATERING PHYSICS AND EJECTA SCALING LAWS AND HOW THEY MAY BE AFFECTED BY PRE-IMPACT SUBSURFACE STRUCTURE OF THE TARGET MATERIALS AND GEOLOGIC UNITS SPECIFICALLY IN THE VICINITY OF METEOR CRATER AZ. MEASUREMENTS OF THE SIZE-FREQUENCY AND SPATIAL DISTRIBUTIONS OF EJECTA BLOCKS SURROUNDING THE CRATER CAN PROVIDE CRUCIAL CONSTRAINTS ON THESE IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF THE CRATER AND THE CRATERING PROCESS. THE PRIMARY SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED WORK IS TO DETERMINE THE SIZE-FREQUENCY AND SPATIAL (RADIAL AND CIRCUMFERENTIAL) DISTRIBUTIONS OF BOULDERS AROUND METEOR CRATER BY MAPPING THE DISTRIBUTIONS OF>0.25-0.5 M DIAMETER EJECTA BLOCKS IN A 12.6 SQUARE KM AREA SURROUNDING AND CENTERED ON THE CRATER (EXTENDING IN ALL DIRECTIONS OUT TO 2 KM FROM THE CENTER OF THE CRATER).

Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio TX

Investigators