Large Meteorite Impacts and Planetary Evolution IV (Special Paper)

Impact cratering is now ubiquitously recognized as a fundamental geological and planetological process that has decisively contributed to the formation and evolution of all bodies in the Solar System. In the tradition of the previous Large Meteorite Impacts and Planetary Evolution Special Papers of the Geological Society of America, this volume presents the outcomes of current impact cratering research of both planetological and terrestrial scope. The contents include planetary cratering studies involving both remote sensing analysis and numerical modelling—regarding both formation of impact structures on Earth and elsewhere. Furthermore, a range of geological, geophysical, and remote sensing studies of terrestrial crater structures, as well as multidisciplinary laboratory investigations of natural and experimentally produced impactites are reported. This volume relates new discoveries of possible impact structures and confirmation of others, and it is a widely applicable source book for information about the impact cratering process and impact crater studies.