The excavation stage of basin formation: A qualitative model

Abstract

Crater formation may be divided into high-pressure, excavation, and modification stages. The first two have been investigated by both numerical simulation and observation. A model of the transient crater, which marks the end of the excavation stage and represents the initial boundary conditions of the modification stage, is constructed by combining the properties of cratering flow fields during the excavation stage and the implications of both gravity and strength scaling applied to individual craters at basin dimensions.