Date of Award
January 2015
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
First Advisor
Henry J Melosh
Second Advisor
Andrew Freed
Committee Member 1
David Minton
Committee Member 2
Marc Caffee
Committee Member 3
James Richardson
Abstract
4 Vesta, the second most massive asteroid in the Solar System, was the recent target of NASA’s Dawn mission, which spent many months orbiting and analyzing the body. A geologically young (~1 Ga) giant impact basin, Rheasilvia, which has a diameter nearly equal to that of Vesta, dominates Vesta’s southern hemisphere. In addition to opening a massive crater, the impact that formed the Rheasilvia basin produced a shockwave that was sufficiently strong to modify Vesta’s surface morphology on a nearly global scale.
Recommended Citation
Bowling, Timothy Joseph, "Global Surface Modification of Asteroid 4 Vesta Following the Rheasilvia Impact" (2015). Open Access Dissertations. 1492.
https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations/1492
