Meteorite impact craters as hotspots for mineral resources and energy fuels:A global review

The ever-increasing recovery rate of natural resources from terrestrial impact craters over the last fewdecades across the globe offers new avenues for further exploration of mineral and hydrocarbon resources in such settings.As of today,60 of the 208 terrestrial craters have been identified to host diverseresources such as hydrocarbons,metals and construction materials.The potential of craters as plausibleresource contributors to the energy sector is therefore,worthy of consideration,as 42(70%)of the 60craters host energy resources such as oil,gas,coal,uranium,mercury,critical and major minerals as wellas hydropower resources.Among others,19 craters are of well-developed hydrocarbon reserves.Mineraldeposits associated with craters are also classified similar to other mineral resources such as progenetic,syngenetic and epigenetic sources.Of these,the progenetic and syngenetic mineralization are confinedto the early and late excavation stage of impact crater evolution,respectively,whereas epigenetic deposits are formed during and after the modification stage of crater formation.Thus,progenetic andsyngenetic mineral deposits(like Fe,Ni,Pb,Zn and Cu)associated with craters are formed as a directresult of the impact event,whereas epigenetic deposits(e.g.hydrocarbon)are hosted by the impactstructure and result from post-impact processes.In the progenetic and syngenetic deposits,the shockwave induced fracturing and melting aid the formation of deposits,whereas in the epigenetic deposits,the highly fractured lithostratigraphic units of higher porosity and permeability,like the centralelevated area(CEA)or the rim,act as traps.In this review,we provide a holistic view of the mineral andenergy resources associated with impact craters,and use some of the remote sensing techniques toidentify the mineral deposits as supplemented by a schematic model of the types of deposits formedduring cratering process.

Spratlies Archipelago as the Australasian Tektite Impact Crater, Details of Formation &Richard Muller’s Dust Cloud Explanation for the Mid-Pleistocene Ice Age Cycle Transition

Several significant events of a geological nature occurred approximately 800 ka before the present: (1) Australasian tektite fall (AA), (2) Brunhes-Matuyama geomagnetic reversal (BMR), (3) mid-Pleistocene changes in ice age cycles. Add to these the undated fault system (4) in the South-West (SW) of the South China Sea (SCS). Here we offer a unified cause for all four of these in (5), an impact in the SCS of a large, massive cosmic object, likely a comet, obliquely coming from the SW at an extremely shallow angle, striking the Sunda shelf yet unexploded with the shock of its compressed air bow wave, and causing the continual shelf and slope to collapse, resulting in the fault system (4), then traveling almost tangentially to the surface, exploding at impact with the sea surface, ejecting the tektites (1), creating the formation underlying the later atolls of Spratlies Archipelago (6), Nansha Islands in Chinese, & causing the BMR (2). An explanation of event (3) was Richard Muller’s hypothesis of planet Earth passing through an interplanetary dust cloud periodically due to ecliptic precession. Here we hypothesize this cloud actually is a belt of Australasian tektites ejected into space at super-orbital velocities that Earth encounters about every 100 ka.

Impact crater recognition methods:A review

Impact craters are formed due to the high-speed collisions between small to medium-sized celestial bodies.Impact is the most significant driving force in the evolution of celestial bodies,and the impact craters provide crucial insights into the formation,evolution,and impact history of celestial bodies.In this paper,we present a detailed review of the characteristics of impact craters,impact crater remote sensing data,recognition algorithms,and applications related to impact craters.We first provide a detailed description of the geometric texture,illumination,and morphology characteristics observed in remote sensing data of craters.Then we summarize the remote sensing data and cataloging databases for the four terrestrial planets(i.e.,the Moon,Mars,Mercury,and Venus),as well as the impact craters on Ceres.Subsequently,we study the advancement achieved in the traditional methods,machine learning methods,and deep learning methods applied to the classification,segmentation,and recognition of impact craters.Furthermore,based on the analysis results,we discuss the existing challenges in impact crater recognition and suggest some solutions.Finally,we explore the implementation of impact crater detection algorithms and provide a forward-looking perspective.

Isli and Tislit: The First Dual Impact Crater Discovered in Morocco

Isli and Tislit, the Moroccan “Romeo and Juliette” according to a popular legend gave their name to a twin lakes in Imilchil. There we show evidences that these two lakes are impact craters. The proof as follow: 1) the fragments of iron meteorites found on both sides of Isli and Tislit lakes belong to the same parent meteorite and siderite type;2) the sedimentary formations which are almost tabular in the area of the lakes become tilted with a centripetal sloping all around and towards Isli lake;3) the circular shape of the Tislit lake is similar to that of the Isli lake;4) the impact breccias found on the south of the Isli lake contain shocked quartz crystals;5) the radial fractures of high pressure affect some sedimentary beds. All these observations give evidence of the presence of an impact crater due to the fall of meteorites.

Progresses and prospects of impact crater studies

Crater is a geologic structure in solid bodies(including the terrestrial planets, moons, and asteroids) formed by hyperspeed impact, and the impact process is extremely important to the formation and evolution of these celestial bodies. This paper presents a review of the studies on remote sensing observation, formation mechanism, and scientific application of craters. On the remote sensing study of craters, the topographic characteristics of the micro-craters, simple craters, complex craters, and impact basins are described,the related parameters in the morphological studies of craters are subsequently introduced, and the distribution characteristics of the minerals and rock types during the impact excavation process are analyzed,the methods of crater identification and the crater databases on the Moon, Mars, Ceres, and Vesta are summarized. On the studies of crater formation mechanism, the general formation process of the craters is firstly described, and then the most frequently used methods are presented, and the importance of the empirical equations is also elucidated. On the scientific applications of the craters, the principle and currently utilization of the planetary surface dating method with crater size-frequency distribution are firstly presented, and the applications, including modeling the lunar regolith formation and thickness derivation of both the regolith and basalt, are reviewed. Finally, the future prospects of the formation mechanism study of the craters are discussed.

Impact Craters with Circular and Isolated Secondary Craters on the Continuous Secondaries Facies on the Moon

On airless bodies such as the Moon and Mercury, secondary craters on the continuous secondaries facies of fresh craters mostly occur in chains and clusters. They have very irregular shapes. Secondaries on the continuous secondaries facies of some Martian and Mercurian craters are more isolated from each other in distribution and are more circular in shape, probably due to the effect of target properties on the impact excavation process. This paper studies secondaries on the continuous secondaries facies of all fresh lunar complex craters using recently-obtained high resolution images. After a global search, we find that 3 impact craters and basins on the Moon have circular and isolated secondaries on the continuous secondaries facies similar to those on Mercury： the Orientale basin, the Antoniadi crater, and the Compton crater. The morphological differences between such special secondaries and typical lunar secondaries are quantitatively compared and analyzed. Our preliminary analyses suggest that the special secondaries were probably caused by high temperature gradients within the local targets when these craters and basins formed. The high-temperature of the targets could have affected the impact excavation process by causing higher ejection angles, giving rise to more scattered circular secondaries.

Automatic extraction of lunar impact craters from Chang'E-1 satellite photographs

The distribution characteristics of the impact craters can provide a large amount of information on impact history and the lunar evolution process. In this research, based on the digital elevation model (DEM) data originating from Change'E-1 CCD stereo camera, three automatic extraction methods for the impact craters are implemented in two research areas: direct extraction from flooded DEM data (the Flooded method), object-oriented extraction from DEM data by using ENVI ZOOM function (the Object-Oriented method) and novel object-oriented extraction from flooded DEM data (the Flooded Object-Oriented method). Accuracy assessment, extracted degree computation, cumulative frequency analysis, shape and age analysis of the extracted craters combined display the following results. (1) The Flooded Object-Oriented method yields better accuracy than the other two methods in the two research areas; the extraction result of the Flooded method offers the similar accuracy to that of the Object-Oriented method. (2) The cumulative frequency curves for the extracted craters and the confirmed craters share a similar change trajectory. (3) The number of the impact craters extracted by the three methods in the Imbrian period is the largest and is of various types; as to their age earlier than Imbrain, it is difficult to extract because they could have been destroyed.

Correlation of the largest craters,stratigraphic impact signatures,and extinction events over the past 250 Myr

The six largest known impact craters of the last 250 Myr(≥70 km in diameter),which are capable of causing significant environmental damage,coincide with four times of recognized extinction events at 36(with 2 craters),66,and 145 Myr ago,and possibly with two provisional extinction events at 168 and215 Myr ago.These impact cratering events are accompanied by layers in the geologic record interpreted as impact ejecta.Chance occurrences of impacts and extinctions can be rejected at confidence levels of99.96%(for 4 impact/extinctions)to 99.99%(for 6 impact/extinctions).These results argue that several extinction events over the last 250 Myr may be related to the effects of large-body impacts.

小行星撞遇陆地成坑动力学的计算模拟

小行星撞遇陆地是一个复杂的非线性动力学过程,难以通过模型试验的方法开展相关研究。数值计算为这一灾害动力学过程分析提供了重要的工具,基于自主研发的CoSim软件中离散元(Discrete Element Method,DEM)模块初步实现了小行星撞遇陆地的大规模计算模拟。基于小行星撞遇陆地三维动力学全过程的数值仿真结果:实现了初始接触、撞遇挖掘、高速抛射和回落调整4个撞击阶段全过程仿真;小行星的碰撞入射角及撞遇过程中动力学行为将影响撞击坑的地形地貌特征。研究也表明大规模数值计算方法可较好地实现小行星撞遇地球这一动力学过程,为小行星防御提供支撑。

A rocky hill on the continuous ejecta of Ziwei crater revealed by the Chang’e-3 mission

The Chinese Chang’e-3 mission landed close to the eastern rim of the ~450 m diameter Ziwei crater. Regional stratigraphy of the landing site and impact excavation model suggest that the bulk continuous ejecta deposits of the Ziwei crater are composed by Erathothenian-aged mare basalts. Along the traverse of the Yutu rover, the western segment features a gentle topographic uplift(~0.5 m high over ~4 m), which is spatially connected with the structurally-uplifted crater rim. Assuming that this broad topographic uplift has physical properties discontinuous with materials below, we use data returned by the high-frequency lunar penetrating radar onboard the Yutu rover to estimate the possible range of relative permittivity for this topographic uplift. Only when the relative permittivity is ~9 is the observed radar reflection consistent with the observed topography, suggesting that the topographic uplift is composed of basaltic blocks that were excavated by the Ziwei crater. This result is consistent both with the impact excavation model that predicts deeper basaltic materials being deposited closer to the crater rim, and with observation of numerous half-buried boulders on the surface of this hill. We note that this study is the first to use topography and radargram data to estimate the relative permittivity of lunar surface uplifts, an approach that has had many successful applications on Mars. Similar approaches can apply other ground penetrating radar data for the Moon, such as will be available from the ongoing Chang’e-4 mission.

装药弹体高空跌落冲击动态响应研究

弹药意外跌落的冲击作用,可能引发事故甚至导致弹药出现早爆而造成灾难性后果。采用LSDYNA研究了分体式装药弹体从10~35 m范围内6个不同高度垂直撞击混凝土介质的冲击响应,获得了装药弹体从不同高度冲击混凝土介质时冲击过载峰值和脉宽的变化规律、装药内部应力波的传播规律,以及混凝土地面的开坑状况。冲击过载脉宽大约为5 ms,过载峰值最大约为1000 g,装药头部主要受到压缩作用,轴向应力呈近似半正弦规律变化,其最大值为43.9 MPa。开坑数值模拟结果与实验结果吻合较好,证明了数值模拟的合理性。

球体低速斜撞击成坑规律试验研究

通过设计球体发射低速撞击试验装置,系统开展不同角度条件下球体撞击干砂靶成坑试验,定量分析撞击速度、角度对撞击坑型的影响,定性分析球体低速斜撞击干砂靶的成坑过程及机理,修正低速斜撞击条件下的成坑相似律.讨论所修正的相似律在不同撞击条件下的适用性及其在天文学上的应用.试验结果表明,坑型随撞击速度的增加而增大;坑长、坑体积随撞击角度增加而增加,坑宽随撞击角度的增加先减小再增加,坑深随撞击角度的增加先增加后减小;成坑体积可由撞击角度、撞击速度、球体尺寸、球体密度、重力参数进行缩放得到;低速斜撞击成坑过程中动量和能量共同影响耗散冲击过程.

Visualization of High-Speed Impact of Penetrator into Icy Target

For application to exploration under the surface of icy objects in the solar system, the penetration of an impact probe into an icy target was experimentally simulated by using the ballistic range. Slender projectiles with a cylindrical body and various nose shapes were tested at the impact velocity 130 - 420 m/s. The motion of the penetrator, fragmentation of ice and crater forming were observed by the high-speed camera. It revealed that the crown-shaped ejection was made for a short time after the impact and then the outward normal jet-like stream of ice pieces continued for much longer time. The concave shape of the crater was successfully visualized by pouring the plaster into it. The two-stage structure, the pit and the spall, was clearly confirmed. The rim was not formed around the crater. Observation of the crater surface and the ice around the trace of the penetrator shows that both crushing into smaller ice pieces and recompression into ice blocks are caused by the forward motion of the penetrator. In case of a body with a flow-through duct, ice pieces entering the inlet at the nose tip were ejected from the tail, resulting in relaxation of the impact force. The correlation of the penetration distance and the crater diameter with the impact velocity was investigated.

The Unique Comet Impact Pattern with Reference to Southern Tibet

In the terrestrial planet zone, Comets start outgassing due to solar radiation. This can make comet composition fragile enough to break under the gravitational gradient. Examples like those of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 [1] show that it is not unusual for comets to disintegrate due to gravitational gradients. In the event of an impact of such a disintegrated comet on earth, multiple coherent impact craters will be distributed over a large area. The low-density porous composition of the comet will result in the formation of “large flat-floored craters” spread over a large area with a network of faults and fractures as described by Roddy and co-workers (Roddy, 1976;Roddy et al., 1977) [2] [3]. Due to its unusual appearance these impacts patterns are different than rock/metal asteroid impact craters. As a result, these sites are difficult to identify. There are multiple such sites on the planet earth which are under study for impact but due to complex nature of comet impact craters, they have been a conundrum for some time. One such possible site matching the comet impact features can be observed in the southern Tibet between the latitudes of 82°30'E and 90°30'E and 29°N and 33°N. This study indicates that the lakes in this region were formed by the impact of a single disintegrating comet that hit the region. Observation indicates that the lakes are unusually closely aligned and have a steep slope facing circular feature on the eastern side. Fractures and faults connecting these lakes can be observed over entire subject site hinting towards the multiple impact craters. These craters are large flat-floored and spread over a large area. Gravitational anomaly in the lake region along with the presence of Ultra High Pressure (UHP) minerals like cubic Born Nitride, micro-diamond with the inclusion of Platinum Group Elements (PGE), coesite, Stishovite, osbornite and other complex finds in the region support the possibility of impact.

依兰陨石坑形成过程数值模拟研究

基于iSALE-2D仿真代码对依兰陨石坑的形成过程进行了研究,采用欧拉算法开展数值模拟,探讨了依兰陨石坑的撞击条件,统计分析了成坑过程中熔化层的形成与分布规律,结合点源成坑相似律模型,拟合得到强度机制下的成坑半径关系式。研究结果表明一颗直径120 m、撞击速度12 km/s的花岗岩质小行星垂直撞击地表形成一个与依兰陨石坑形态相似的陨石坑,再现了成坑形成的3个阶段:接触与压缩阶段、开坑阶段、后期调整阶段。大部分熔体在坑底呈分层堆叠分布,少量熔体随抛射物沉积在靶体表面,呈离散状分布,完全熔化材料质量约为撞击体质量的24倍。直径120 m、撞击速度12 km/s工况模拟结果与拟合的成坑半径关系式结果相对误差10.3%。

The Kaali Impact as Trigger of a Mega-Tsunami Event and Violent Seismotectonics in Sweden

A meteorite impacted the ground in Estonia forming the Kaali Crater dated at 1183 - 1162 BC. It set up a Baltic-wide mega-tsunami dated at 1171 absolute varve years BC. It also triggered violent seismotectonic effect in Sweden. Ancient legends testify of direct observations of the sky phenomena and personal experiences of the ground shaking and tsunami flooding, which makes the Kaali Crater the oldest impact event documented by humans. The Ragnarök apocalypse is likely to lead its origin from the violent geodynamic activity along the Swedish east coast.

月球的撞击历史及其对月表物质的改造

外来天体物质的高速撞击作用贯穿了月球形成和演化的全部历史。撞击作用是塑造月球全球地貌、改造月表物质的物理化学特征、影响月球多圈层演化的重要地质营力。月球上的撞击过程、撞击历史及其对月表物质的改造,一直是月球科学研究的重要内容,也是月球探测的重点研究对象。本文综述了近十年来国、内外在月球的撞击过程、撞击历史和撞击改造浅表层物质研究中的重要进展,重点介绍了基于我国嫦娥探月工程获取的科学数据的相关研究成果,展望了该研究的发展方向,并对未来探测的重要观测目标提出了建议。

基于多层次分割的月表撞击坑自动检测

对月表不同尺寸撞击坑的提取具有重要研究价值。目前针对直径1 km以下的撞击坑检测取得了理想的效果,但对于相对较大的撞击坑检测率有待进一步提升。本文提出了一种具有良好稳健性的撞击坑自动检测模型,基于LOLA发布的全月DEM数据生成了月表地形参数,采用面向对象的多层次分割方法并结合机器学习技术提取撞击坑,选取3个典型样区进行了试验分析。结果表明,对于直径范围在1~120 km内的撞击坑,召回率和精确率分别为86.5%和81.2%,具有良好的检测率。