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Impact Melt Pond

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms

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Definition

An impact melt pond is a flat-lying coherent deposit of impact melt-rich rock that settled under the influence of gravity in a topographic depression while molten.

Synonyms

Melt pool; Ponded impact melt deposit

Description

Impact-generated melt can form a ponded deposit with a level surface by flowing from topographic highs into lower basins, including small closed depressions. The impact melt rock in a ponded deposit may be relatively free of granular debris, or it may be a mixture of melt and lesser particulate clasts. Depending on the volume of melt, the viscosity and flow of melt, and the availability and size of local depressions, impact melt ponds range from small local features (e.g., localized deposits in terraced crater walls) to large-scale deposits (e.g., occupying a crater floor).

Formation

Extensive reviews of the impact cratering process and its relationship to shock-induced melting can be found in Melosh (1989), French (1998), and Osinski and Pierazzo (2013)....

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Julie D. Stopar

  2. Institut für Planetologie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Wilhelm-Klemm-Str. 10, 48149, Münster, Germany

    Carolyn H. van der Bogert

Authors
  1. Julie D. Stopar
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  2. Carolyn H. van der Bogert
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Correspondence to Julie D. Stopar .

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Stopar, J.D., van der Bogert, C.H. (2014). Impact Melt Pond. In: Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_236-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_236-1

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