Fig. 5: Evolution of an impact crater in an ice covered continent. | Nature Communications

Fig. 5: Evolution of an impact crater in an ice covered continent.

From: Precise radiometric age establishes Yarrabubba, Western Australia, as Earth’s oldest recognised meteorite impact structure

Fig. 5

Snapshots of the iSALE model with a 2-km-thick ice sheet showing a the initial conditions, b the transient crater and c the final crater. Superimposed on a is the initial position of tracer particles which were shock-heated to the critical entropy required to begin vaporisation (incipient vaporisation, red) and to completely vapourise ice (complete vaporisation, yellow). The colour scale on the right-hand side of c shows the peak shock pressure in the granite basement. d The calculated mass of ice shock-heated to the critical entropy for incipient and complete vaporisation, as a function of initial ice thickness. In each impact, the impactor size was 7 km and resulted in a final crater diameter of ~70 km.

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