Multi-ringed basin

A multi-ringed basin (also a multi-ring impact basin) is not a simple bowl-shaped crater, or a peak ring crater, but one containing multiple concentric topographic rings;[1] a multi-ringed basin could be described as a massive impact crater, surrounded by circular chains of mountains[2] resembling rings on a bull's-eye. A multi-ringed basin may have an area of many thousands of square kilometres.[3]

Valhalla Basin on Jupiter's moon Callisto, taken by Voyager 1

An impact crater of diameter bigger than about 180 miles (290 km) is referred to as a basin.[4]

Mare Orientale, on Earth's Moon

The structure of multi-ring basins

In adjacent rings, the ratio of the diameters approximates √2:1 ≈ 1.41 to 1.[5][6][7]

Formation

To start, a peak ring crater has

  • one peak-ring, i.e., a crater rim, which is generally circular, and
  • a mountainous region which surrounds the basin center.

A multi-ringed basin has an important difference, which is multiple peak-rings.

In extremely large collisions, following the impact the rebound of the surface can obliterate any trace of the initial impact point. Usually a peak ring crater has a high structure with a terrace, and has slump structures inside of it. In 2016, research brought forward new theories about the lunar mare called Mare Orientale on Earth's Moon, as to how it formed.[8]

Multi-ring basins are some of the largest, oldest, rarest and least understood of impact craters. There are various theories to explain the formation of multi-ringed basins, however there is currently no consensus.[9][10]

Examples

Chicxulub crater in Mexico has a sufficient area to have been a multi-ringed basin,[12]

See also
  • Central-peak crater – Large impact craters with uplifted centres
  • Complex crater – Large impact craters with uplifted centres
  • Impact crater – Circular depression in a solid astronomical body formed by the impact of a smaller object
  • Impact event – Collision of two astronomical objects
  • Impact structure – Geologic structure formed from impact on a planetary surface
  • Peak ring (crater) – Roughly circular ring or plateau, possibly discontinuous, surrounding an impact crater's center
  • Pedestal crater – type of impact crater
  • Expanded crater – Type of secondary impact crater
  • Traces of Catastrophe – Book by Bevan M. French book from Lunar and Planetary Institute - comprehensive reference on impact crater science

References
  1. Head, J. W. (January 2010). "Transition from complex craters to multi-ringed basins on terrestrial planetary bodies: Scale-dependent role of the expanding melt cavity and progressive interaction with the displaced zone" (PDF). Geophysical Research Letters. 37 (2): L02203. Bibcode:2010GeoRL..37.2203H. doi:10.1029/2009GL041790. S2CID 17702095. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-10-22. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
  2. "Lunar Landforms Teacher Page". Hawai'i Space Grant Consortium, Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i. 1998. Archived from the original on 12 February 2018. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
  3. "Multiringed basin". Encyclopedia Britannica. February 1, 2018. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
  4. [(url is hijacked by suspicious site) "How Multi-Ring Craters Form Revealed by New Research"]. Ideas, Inventions And Innovations. October 29, 2016. Retrieved January 20, 2019. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  5. "Multi-Ring Basin". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
  6. Moons & Planets, William K. Hartmann, 2005, p.255ff
  7. Martellato, Elena (January 31, 2011). The importance of being a crater: A tool in planetary surface analysis and datation (PDF) (PhD Thesis). Università degli Studi di Padova. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
  8. Stacey, Kevin (October 27, 2016). "Research helps explain formation of ringed crater on the Moon". News from Brown. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  9. Potter, Ross W.K. (November 2015). "Investigating the onset of multi-ring impact basin formation" (PDF). Icarus. 261: 91–99. Bibcode:2015Icar..261...91P. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2015.08.009. S2CID 14158122. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-01-20.
  10. Stuart Ross Taylor (1982). "Meteorite impacts, craters and multi-ring basins" (PDF). Planetary Science: A Lunar Perspective. Lunar and Planetary Institute. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  11. Chu, Jennifer (October 27, 2016). "Retracing the origins of a massive, multi-ring crater". MIT News. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  12. McKinnon, W. B.; Alexopoulos, J. S. (January 1994). "Some implications of large impact craters and basins on Venus for terrestrial ringed craters and planetary evolution". KT Event and Other Catastrophes. hdl:2060/19940023803.
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