The mechanics and history of catastrophe.
Planetary surfaces provide clues to the evolution of a solar system body. Craters are the result of one of the most important processes to effect planets, asteroids, and moon. Hypervelocity meteoroid impact cratering is a fundamental geologic process that affects the evolution of the entire solar system.
Unlike on Earth, most planetary crusts are long-surviving witnesses of impact bombardment, and this knowledge helps us understand the evolution of the solar system. The cratering record of a planetary body offers clues to the relative surface age, impact size and frequency and its crustal structure in space and time.
Current projects aim to study terrestrial impact sites, investigate impact crater morphologies on Mars, and understand the processes of shock metamorphism associated with impact events.
Methods used to unravel these processes include crater counting, numerical impact modelling, impact experiments, accessory mineral dating, mineral deformation studies of meteorites and terrestrial rocks as well as broad range of lunar and planetary remote sensing data.
Principal leads include Dr Aaron Cavosie, A/Prof Nick Timms, A/Prof Katarina Miljkovic, Prof Fred Jourdan, and Prof Gretchen Benedix.