Wetumpka Impact Crater Time Line (83 Ma)

David T. King, Jr., Department of Geology, Auburn University
kingdat@mail.auburn.edu

"The most impressive phenomenon associated with a hypervelocity impact is the destruction of the projectile."---E.A. King, Jr. (1976)

Assumes: diameter = 350 m; velocity 20 km/sec; density = 3 gm/cm3

-2.35 secInbound asteroid contacts stratopause at 47 km
-0.75 secInbound asteroid contacts trophopause at 15 km
+0.00 secLeading end of asteroid contacts Earth's surface
+0.00 secForward shock wave begins travel into Earth and reverse shock wave begins travel back into asteroid
+0.02 secAsteroid reaches crustal depth of c. 400 m
+0.02 secShock wave reaches trailing end of asteroid and thus asteroid vaporized yielding energy = 10 2 to 10 3 MT
+0.02 secAtmospheric blast wave leaves crater at 20 km/sec and a magnitude 8.4 to 9.0 earthquake leaves crater
+0.02 secInfrared flashfires start within radius = c. 50 km; total potential flashfire area = c. 7850 km2
+0.02 secEjecta that leaves initial crater at 45 degrees has velocity = c. 71 km/sec at crater rim
+0.60 secFirst ejecta initially traveling at 71 km/sec and launched at 45 degrees exits Earth's stratopause (47 km)
+2.00 secAtmospheric shock-wave peak-pressure front reaches radius = 40 km; potential flattened area = 5000 km2
+2.00 sectsunami-wave amplitude (if impact in water) reaches height = c. 250 m at distance of 5 asteroid radii (875 m)
+11.5 secTransient crater opens to diameter = c. 3.7 km
+24.0 secMega-avalanche occurs as transient-crater rim collapses; rim height is reduced by c. 120 m
+26.0 secCentral rebound peak reaches maximum relief and peak collapse begins thus forming a peak ring
+203.1 secBase of ejecta curtain (inclined at 30-45 degrees) reaches 20.8 km radius (or 6.4 crater radii)