Long-term crustal modification of large terrestrial meteorite impact structures: insights from scaled analogue experiments

Meteorite impact is recognized as a fundamental geological process of the solar system. Although mechanisms of large impact cratering have been studied intensely, mostly by numerical modelling, an outstanding problem concerns long-term crater modification, which operates on time scales of tens of thousands of years after impact. Localized deformation in the form of radial and concentric floor fractures (FFCs) are known from large craters on all terrestrial planets. On Earth, we can observe the occurrence of radial and concentric impact melt rock dikes in the eroded basement of large impact structures, such as Sudbury (Canada) and Vredefort (South Africa). Two mechanisms were proposed in the past to explain the formation of FFCs: the intrusion and inflation of igneous bodies below the crater floor and long-term isostatic re-equilibration of impacted target rocks. Using two-layer analogue experiments scaled to physical conditions on Earth, we explore to what extent isostatic re-equilibration of crust may account for the observed dike and fracture patterns of FFCs.

The structural evolution of model upper crust was examined for a variety of initial depths and diameters of crater floors. The crater diameter-to-depth ratio was scaled according to numerical models for average continental crust. Specifically, a tank, 80cm by 80cm in size, was filled with PDMS, representing the viscous middle and lower crust and granular material, simulating the brittle upper crust. Moreover, we introduce a method, which allowed us to generate any shapes of model impact crater floors.

The experiment surfaces were monitored with a 3D digital image correlation system allowing us to quantify key parameters, such as surface motion as well as the distribution and evolution of surface strain. The results of our scale models enabled us to quantify the duration, geometry and distribution of brittle deformation of upper crust. Most importantly, the analogue experiments provided, for the first time, a quantitative relationship between diameter, depth and fracture geometry of crater floors.

Our results indicate that FFCs are caused by long-term uplift of the crater floor, compensated by crustal flow toward the crater center. Such radial convergent flow generated radial and concentric dilation fractures. Crater floor uplift is accompanied by long-wavelength subsidence of the crater periphery on the order of 50 minutes, amounting to some 3000 years in nature. The formation of radial versus concentric fractures depends on the ratio between crater diameter and crater depth and, hence, is controlled by isostacy and crustal strength. The geometry and distribution of fractures in analogue experiments are strikingly similar to the geometry of impact melt rock dikes at Sudbury and Vredefort.