Constraints on the size of the Vredefort impact crater from numerical modeling

Meteoritics and Planetary Science

Volumn 33, Issue 3, 1998, Pages 483-490

  Turtle, E P ^a   Pierazzo, E ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CRATER SIZE; IMPACT CRATER; METEORITE;

FREE STATE; SOUTH AFRICA; VREDEFORT STRUCTURE;

EID: 0031691260     PISSN: 10869379     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1945-5100.1998.tb01652.x     Document Type: Article

References (44)

1. Bathe K. and Wilson E. L. (1976) Numerical Methods in Finite Element Analysis. Prentice‐Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA. 528 pp.
2. Benz W., Cameron A. G. W. and Melosh H. J. (1989) The origin of the moon and the single impact hypothesis III. Icarus 81, 113–131.
3. Birch F. (1966) Compressibility; Elastic Constants. In Handbook of Physical Constants (ed. S. P. Clark, Jr.), pp. 160–171. Geological Society of America, New York, New York, USA.
4. Corner B., Durrheim R. J. and Nicolaysen L. O. (1990) Relationships between the Vredefort Structure and the Witwatersrand Basin within the tectonic framework of the Kaapvaal craton as interpreted from regional gravity and aeromagnetic data. Tectonophysics 171, 46–61.
5. Daly R. A. (1947) The Vredefort ring‐structure of South Africa. J. Geology 55 (3), 125–145.
6. Fletcher P. and Reimold W. U. (1989) Some notes and speculations on the pseudotachylites in the Witwatersrand Basin and Vredefort dome, South Africa. South African Journal of Geology 92 (3), 223–234.
7. Gibson R. L. and Wallmach T. (1995) Low pressure‐high temperature metamorphism in the Vredefort Dome, South Africa: Anticlockwise pressure‐temperature path followed by rapid decompression. Geological Journal 30, 319–331.
8. Goetze C. (1978) The mechanisms of creep in olivine. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A. 288, 99–119.
9. Grieve R. A. F. and Masaitis V. L. (1994) The economic potential of terrestrial impact craters. International Geology Review 36, 105–151.
10. Grieve R. A. F. and Robertson P. B. (1976) Variations in shock deformation at the Slate Islands impact structure, Lake Superior, Canada. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 58, 37–49.
11. Grieve R. A. F., Robertson P. B. and Dence M. R. (1981) Constraints on the formation of ring impact structures, based on terrestrial data. In Multi‐Ring Basins (ed. R. B. Merrill), pp. 37–57. Pergamon Press, New York, New York, USA.
12. Grieve R. A. F., Coderre J. M., Robertson P. B. and Alexopoulos J. (1990) Microscopic planar deformation features in quartz of the Vredefort structure: Anomalous but still suggestive of an impact origin. Tectonophysics 171, 185–200.
13. Grieve R. A. F., Langenhorst F. and Stöffler D. (1996) Shock metamorphism of quartz in nature and experiment: II. Significance in geoscience. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 31, 6–35.
14. Hall A. L. and Molengraaff G. A. F. (1925) The Vredefort Mountain Land in the Southern Transvaal and the Northern Orange Free State. Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam 24 (3), 1–183.
15. Hargraves R. B. (1961) Shatter cones in the rocks of the Vredefort ring. Trans. Geol. Soc. South Africa 64, 147–161.
16. Hart R. J., Andreoli M. A. G., Reimold W. U. and Tredoux M. (1991) Aspects of the dynamic and thermal metamorphic history of the Vredefort cryptoexplosion structure: Implications for its origin. Tectonophysics 192, 313–331.
17. Henkel H. and Reimold W. U. (1996) Integrated gravity and magnetic modeling of the Vredefort impact structure‐Reinterpretation of the Witwatersrand Basin as the erosional remnant of an impact basin. Information Circular of the Economic Geology Research Unit of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 299, 89 pp.
18. Hörz F. (1968) Statistical measurements of deformation structures and refractive indices in experimentally shock loaded quartz. In Shock Metamorphism of Natural Materials (eds. B. French and N. M. Short), pp. 243–253. Mono Book Corp., Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
19. Kamo S. L., Reimold W. U., Krogh T. E. and Colliston W. P. (1996) A 2.023 Ga age for the Vredefort impact event and a first report of shock metamorphosed zircons in pseudotachylitic breccias and Granophyre. Earth Planet. Sci. Letters 144, 369–387.
20. Kirby S. H. and Kronenberg A. K. (1987) Correction to “Rheology of the Lithosphere: Selected Topics”. Reviews of Geophysics 25, 1680–1681.
21. Koeberl C., Reimold W. U. and Shirley S. B. (1996) Re‐Os isotope and geochemical study of the Vredefort Granophyre: Clues to the origin of the Vredefort Structure, South Africa. Geology 24 (10), 913–916.
22. Leroux H., Reimold W. U. and Doukhan J. (1994) A TEM investigation of shock metamorphism in quartz from the Vredefort dome, South Africa. Tectonophysics 230, 223–239.
23. Manton W. I. (1965) The orientation and origin of shatter cones in the Vredefort Ring. Annals of the N. Y. Academy of Science 123, 1017–1049.
24. Maxwell D. and Seifert K. (1975) Modeling of Cratering, Close‐in Displacements, and Ejecta. Defense Nuclear Agency, Report #DNA 3628F, Washington, D.C., USA. 101 pp.
25. McCarthy T. S., Stanistreet I. G. and Robb L. J. (1990) Geological studies related to the origin of the Witwatersrand Basin and its mineralization‐An introduction and a strategy for research and exploration. South African Journal of Geology 93 (1), 1–4.
26. McLaren A. C., Retchford J. A., Griggs D. T. and Christie J. M. (1967) Transmission electron microscope study of Brazil twins and dislocations experimentally produced in quartz. Physica Status Solida 19, 631–644.
27. Melosh H. J. (1977) Crater modification by gravity: A mechanical analysis of slumping. In Impact and Explosion Cratering (eds. D. J. Roddy, R. O. Pepin and R. B. Merrill), pp. 1245–1260. Pergamon Press, New York, New York, USA.
28. Melosh H. J. (1982) A schematic model of crater modification by gravity. J. Geophys. Res. 87, 371–380.
29. Melosh H. J. (1989) Impact Cratering: A Geologic Process. Oxford University Press, New York, New York, USA. 245 pp.
30. Melosh H. J. and Raefsky A. (1980) The dynamical origin of subduction zone topography. Geophys. J.R. Astr. Soc. 60, 333–354.
31. Nicolaysen L. O., Hart R. J. and Gale N. H. (1981) The Vredefort radio‐element profile extended to supracrustal strata at Carletonville, with implications for continental heat flow. J. Geophys. Res. 86, 10 653–10 661.
32. Pierazzo E., Vickery A. M. and Melosh H. J. (1997) A re‐evaluation of impact melt production. Icarus 127, 408–423.
33. Reimold W. U. and Wallmach T. (1991) The Vredefort structure under discussion. South African Journal of Science 87, 412–417.
34. Robertson P. B., Dence M. R. and Vos M. A. (1968) Deformation in rock‐forming minerals from Canadian craters. In Shock Metamorphism of Natural Materials (eds. B. French and N. M. Short), pp. 433–452. Mono Book Corp., Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
35. Roddy D. J. and Davis L. K. (1977) Shatter cones formed in large‐scale experimental explosion craters. In Impact and Explosion Cratering (eds. D. J. Roddy, R. O. Pepin and R. B. Merrill), pp. 715–750. Pergamon Press, New York, New York, USA.
36. Rondot J. (1994) Recognition of Eroded Astroblemes. Earth-Science Reviews 35, 331–365.
37. Schmids M., Boland J. N. and Paterson M. S. (1977) Superplastic flow in fine‐grained limestone. Tectonophysics 43, 257–291.
38. Schmidt R. M. and Housen K. R. (1987) Some recent advances in the scaling of impact and explosion cratering. Int. J. Impact Engng. 5, 543–560.
39. Simpson C. (1981) Occurrence and orientation of shatter cones in Pretoria Group quartzites in the collar of the Vredefort ‘Dome’: Impact origin precluded. J. Geophys. Res. 86, 10 701–10 706.
40. Stevens G., Gibson R. L. and Droop G. T. R. (1997) Mid‐crustal granulite facies metamorphism in the Central Kaapvaal craton: The Bushveld Complex connection. Precambrian Research 82, 113–132.
41. Stöffler D. and Langenhorst F. (1994) Shock Metamorphism of quartz in nature and experiment: I. Basic observation and theory. Meteoritics 29, 155–181.
42. Therriault A. M., Grieve R. A. F. and Reimold W. U. (1997) Original size of the Vredefort Structure: Implications for the geological evolution of the Witwatersrand Basin. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 32, 71–77.
43. Thompson S. L. (1979) CSQIII An Eulerian finite differences program for two‐dimensional material response: Users manual. Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico, USA. 87 pp.
44. Thompson S. L. and Lauson H. S. (1972) Improvements in the Chart D radiation‐hydrodynamic code III: Revised analytical equation of state. Technical Report #SC‐RK‐61 0714, Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico, USA. 119 pp.