Ejecta from experimental impact craters: Particle size distribution and fragmentation energy

Abstract

The particle size distribution (PSD) of impact crater ejecta is an important parameter that is useful for understanding the formation of natural craters, the distribution of space debris, the influence of impact events on climate and energy partitioning in impact events. 11 impact experiments into dry and water-saturated sandstone were performed and analyzed. The experiments span a range of impact velocities from 2.5 to 5.3kms−1 using projectile sizes from 2.5 to 12mm. Kinetic impact energies between 874 and 80,338J were achieved. Ejecta of these experiments was collected and the PSD was measured and quantified with power law fits. The resulting power law exponents lie between 2.54 and 2.74. Our results do not show an influence of impact energy or impact velocity on the PSD of impact ejecta. A significant increase in the PSD values was found from dry to water-saturated sandstone targets. We suggest that water saturation of the target has multiple effects on ejecta fragmentation. A comparison of our experimental data with data from the literature shows no correlation between the target material lithology and the ejecta PSD. Interestingly, literature data for disruption experiments revealed a strong influence imparted energy density on the D-values. PSD values were used to calculate the energy spent for target fragmentation and show that the fraction of impact energy used for comminution is in the lower single-digit percentage.