peak ring

{{Short description|Roughly circular ring or plateau, possibly discontinuous, surrounding an impact crater's center}}

File:Apollo crater LRO.jpg is a peak ring crater]]

A peak ring crater is a type of complex crater, which is different from a multi-ringed basin or central-peak crater. A central peak is not seen; instead, a roughly circular ring or plateau, possibly discontinuous, surrounds the crater's center, with the crater rim still farther out from the center.

Formation

The rings form by different processes, and inner rings may not be formed by the same processes as outer rings.Geology Page: [http://www.geologypage.com/2016/10/research-helps-explain-formation-ringed-crater-moon.html www.geologypage.com/2016/10/research-helps-explain-formation-ringed-crater-moon.html], accessdate: February 5, 2017

It has long been the view that peak rings are formed in the stage subsequent to central peak formation in craters, with the stage being dependent on the crater diameter and planetary gravity. The central peaks of craters are believed to originate from hydrodynamic flow of material lifted by inward-collapsing crater walls, while impact-shattered rock debris is briefly turned to fluid by strong vibrations that develop during crater formation. The peak-ring structure of Chicxulub crater was probably formed as inward-collapsing material struck the over-steepened central peak, to form a hydraulic jump at the location where the peak ring was located.{{cite web |url=http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/gap2015/pdf/1003.pdf |title=Peak-ring Craters and Multiring Basins |author=H. J. Melosh |date=2015 |website= |access-date=18 Nov 2016}}

Other hypotheses have been formulated. Perhaps, in the case of Chicxulub crater, an over-high central peak collapsed into the peak ring.{{cite journal |title=Drilling into Chicxulub's formation |journal=Science |volume=354 |issue=6314 |pages=878–882 |author=H. J. Melosh |doi=10.1126/science.aah6561 |pmid=27856906 |year=2016 |s2cid=7012594 |url=http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/131793/1/131793.pdf}}{{cite web |url=http://www.geologypage.com/2018/10/the-formation-of-large-meteorite-craters-is-unraveled.html#ixzz5VVkNl3Vz |title=The formation of large meteorite craters is unraveled |publisher=Geology Page |date=October 29, 2018 |access-date=20 November 2018}}

Chicxulub is Earth's only crater to have an intact peak ring structure.{{cite web |url=https://www.sciencenews.org/article/how-ring-mountains-forms-inside-crater |title=How a ring of mountains forms inside a crater |author=Thomas Sumner |date=Nov 17, 2016 |website= |access-date=18 Nov 2016}} The Carswell crater in Saskatchewan, Canada, may also be an eroded peak ring crater.{{cite book |doi=10.1130/2010.2465(26) |chapter=The Carswell impact event, Saskatchewan, Canada: Evidence for a pre-Athabasca multiring basin? |title=Large Meteorite Impacts and Planetary Evolution IV |date=2010 |last1=Genest |first1=Serge |last2=Robert |first2=Francine |last3=Duhamel |first3=Isabelle |isbn=978-0-8137-2465-2}}

Examples

File:Raditladi basin 2015.jpg|Raditladi, a relatively young peak-ring crater on Mercury

File:Barton crater.jpg|Barton, a peak-ring crater on Venus

File:Schrödinger (LRO) 500 km.png|Schrödinger, a peak-ring crater on the Moon

File:Lowell crater PIA02836.jpg|Lowell, a peak-ring crater on Mars

See also

References

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