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Science 26 November 2004:
Vol. 306. no. 5701, pp. 1526 - 1529
DOI: 10.1126/science.1104731
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Reports

Impact-Induced Seismic Activity on Asteroid 433 Eros: A Surface Modification Process

James E. Richardson,* H. Jay Melosh, Richard Greenberg

High-resolution images of the surface of asteroid 433 Eros revealed evidence of downslope movement of a loose regolith layer, as well as the degradation and erasure of small impact craters (less than ~100 meters in diameter). One hypothesis to explain these observations is seismic reverberation after impact events. We used a combination of seismic and geomorphic modeling to analyze the response of regolith-covered topography, particularly craters, to impact-induced seismic shaking. Applying these results to a stochastic cratering model for the surface of Eros produced good agreement with the observed size-frequency distribution of craters, including the paucity of small craters.

Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jrich{at}lpl.arizona.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Regolith Migration and Sorting on Asteroid Itokawa.
H. Miyamoto, H. Yano, D. J. Scheeres, S. Abe, O. Barnouin-Jha, A. F. Cheng, H. Demura, R. W. Gaskell, N. Hirata, M. Ishiguro, et al. (2007)
Science 316, 1011-1014
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Adventures in near-Earth object exploration..
E. Asphaug (2006)
Science 312, 1328-1329
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)