Melt production in large-scale impact events: Planetary observations and implications

Differences in scaling relationships for crater formation and the generation of impact melt should lead to a variety of observable features and phenomena. These relationships infer that the volume of the transient cavity (and final crater) relative to the volume of impact melt (and the depth to which melting occurs) decreases as the effects of gravity and impact velocity increase. Since planetary gravity and impact velocity are variables in the calculation of cavity and impact-melt volumes, the implications of the model calculation will vary between planetary bodies. Details of the model calculations of impact-melt generation as a function of impact and target physical conditions were provided elsewhere, as were attempts to validate the model through ground-truth data on melt volumes, shock attenuation, and morphology from terrestrial impact craters.