Airbursts trigger dust avalanches on Mars

An open forum where all registered users can post on meteorite related topics. No advertisements are permitted in this forum. For access to the secure BIMS members forum please follow the "Join BIMS" link from the main website.

Airbursts trigger dust avalanches on Mars

Postby David Entwistle » Sat Dec 03, 2011 6:08 pm

There's a meteorite-related article in this week's New Scientist magazine, Airbursts trigger dust avalanches on Mars...

The team carried out computer simulations that showed that, surprisingly, the avalanches do not seem to be caused by meteorites hitting the ground, but by the shock wave generated by a rock's passage through the atmosphere. This spreads across an area about a million times larger than the craters. "It was astonishing that a relatively small impact could affect a large area," says team member Jay Melosh of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.
David Entwistle
 
Posts: 1259
Joined: Fri May 13, 2011 5:52 pm

Return to BIMS Open Forum

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 25 guests

cron