How big was the Chesapeake Bay impact? Insight from numerical modeling

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Research Article| December 01, 2005 How big was the Chesapeake Bay impact? Insight from numerical modeling Gareth S. Collins; Gareth S. Collins 1Impacts and Astromaterials Research Centre, Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Kai Wünnemann Kai Wünnemann 2Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Geology (2005) 33 (12): 925–928. https://doi.org/10.1130/G21854.1 Article history received: 18 May 2005 rev-recd: 29 Jul 2005 accepted: 01 Aug 2005 first online: 09 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Gareth S. Collins, Kai Wünnemann; How big was the Chesapeake Bay impact? Insight from numerical modeling. Geology 2005;; 33 (12): 925–928. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G21854.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract The Chesapeake Bay impact structure, Virginia, is the largest impact crater in the United States. The important question of how large the impactor was that formed the crater remains unanswered. This is primarily due to peculiarities of the crater structure, revealed by seismic exploration, that complicate comparisons with other terrestrial and extraterrestrial craters. One potential explanation for the unusual structure of the Chesapeake Bay crater is that the cratering process was affected by rheologic variations in the target at the time of impact. Using numerical modeling, we find that for a sufficient contrast in material strength between the sedimentary and crystalline units at the Chesapeake Bay impact site, we can produce a model of the final crater that is consistent with observational constraints, and hence we can infer the energy released during the impact, ∼1.75 × 106 Mt. In the absence of target strength variations, the final crater diameter is likely to have been ∼40 km, rather than the observed 80–90 km. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.