Despite their global importance, little is known about the few existing examples of impacts into marine environments and icy targets. They are among the least understood and studied parts of impact crater geology. The icy impacts are also of great importance in understanding the developments of the outer planets and their satellites such as Mars or Europa. Furthermore, the impact mechanisms, crater formation and collapse, melt production and the ejecta distribution are scarcely known for impact on targets other than the "classical" solid silicates of the continental crust. The reaction of water and ice to impacts clearly deserves a more thorough study. The understanding of impact effects and consequences in the case of aqueous hits, soft sediments and icy targets has not been thoroughly explored and comprises the main focus of this book. A number of papers in the field of hypervelocity impacts on ice are included. These cover a review of available literature in the field of laboratory studies of such impacts, large impact structures on Titan, predicting impact cratering on a comet nucleus, and a novel report on the survival of bacteria fired at hypervelocity into icy surfaces. This latter paper is concerned with astrobiology and in particular Panspermia (natural migration of life through space).

The Mjølnir impact structure was recognized in 1993 and included in the Earth Impact Database in 1996, based on the discoveries of unequivocal meteorite impact indicators such as shocked quartz, Ir-enrichments, possible glass remnants, fragments of nickel-rich iron oxides, in addition to the convincing complex crater shape of the structure. This book presents the geological and geophysical history of the Barents Sea region along with the discovery of the Mjølnir impact crater. We place the Mjølnir event into the geological framework of the region and present elaborative numerical models of its formation and associated tsunami generation. The book represents an update and synthesis as well as the complete compilation of the Mjølnir crater studies.

Impact cratering is arguably the most ubiquitous geological process in the Solar System. It has played an important role in Earth’s history, shaping the geological landscape, affecting the evolution of life, and generating economic resources. However, it was only in the latter half of the 20th century that the importance of impact cratering as a geological process was recognized and only during the past couple of decades that the study of meteorite impact structures has moved into the mainstream. This book seeks to fill a critical gap in the literature by providing an overview text covering broad aspects of the impact cratering process and aimed at graduate students, professionals and researchers alike. It introduces readers to the threat and nature of impactors, the impact cratering process, the products, and the effects – both destructive and beneficial. A series of chapters on the various techniques used to study impact craters provide a foundation for anyone studying impact craters for the first time.

Summarizes information assembled and discussed at the meeting and includes additional outside information when necessary to provide a brief, coherent synthesis of the Norton Basin environment and possible consequences of Outer Continental Shelf petroleum development.

In the context of the NASA Deep Impact space mission, comet 9P/Tempel1 has been at the focus of an unprecedented worldwide long-term multi-wavelength observation campaign. The comet was also studied throughout its perihelion passage by various sources including the Deep Impact mission itself, the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer, Rosetta, XMM and all major ground-based observatories in a wavelength band from cm-wave radio astronomy to x-rays. This book includes the proceedings of a meeting that brought together an audience of theoreticians and observers - across the electromagnetic spectrum and from different sites and projects - to make full use of the massive ground-based observing data set. The coherent presentation of all data sets illustrates and examines the various observational constraints on modelling the cometary nucleus, cometary gas, cometary plasma, cometary dust, and the comet's surface and its activity.

Where on Earth is it like Mars? How were the Apollo astronauts trained to be geologists on the Moon? Are volcanoes on Earth just like the ones on other planets? The exploration of our solar system begins in our own backyard. Discoveries on other planetary bodies cannot always be easily explained. Therefore, geologic sites on this planet are used to better understand the extraterrestrial worlds we explore with humans, robots, and satellites. Analogs for Planetary Exploration is a compilation of historical accounts of astronaut geology training, overviews of planetary geology research on Mars, educational field trips to analog sites, plus concepts for future human missions to the Moon. This Special Paper provides a great overview of the science, training, and planning related to planetary exploration for students, educators, researchers, and geology enthusiasts. After all, as we learn about the solar system we can better understand our own planet Earth.