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Ricochet Crater

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Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms

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Definition

An impact crater with an associated landform caused by ricochet and reimpact of the projectile (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1
figure 1

Left: This oblique view of the elliptical Messier (14 × 8 km, 1.9°S, 47.6°E) and Messier A craters shows downrange rays and a divot on the side of Messier A that are typically interpreted to be the result of ricocheted impactor material. Impactor direction is from bottom to top along the central axis of Messier. Lunar Orbiter 5 frame 5041. (NASA). Right: Messier A has downrange rays while Messier shows a butterfly ejecta pattern with forbidden zones uprange and downrange. Scale bar 50 km. Clementine UVVIS 750 nm ULCN (USNRL/BMDO)

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References

  • Chappelow JE, Herrick RR (2008) On the origin of a double, oblique impact on Mars. Icarus 197:452–457

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  • Gault DE, Wedekind JA (1978) Experimental studies of oblique impacts. Proc Lunar Sci Conf 9:3843–3875

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  • Herrick RR, Hessen KK (2006) The planforms of low-angle impact craters in the northern hemisphere of Mars. Meteorit Planet Sci 41(10):1483–1495

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK, USA

    Robert R. Herrick

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  1. Robert R. Herrick
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Correspondence to Robert R. Herrick .

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Herrick, R.R. (2014). Ricochet Crater. In: Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_307-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_307-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-9213-9

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