Earth Impact Effects Program

Robert Marcus, H. Jay Melosh, and Gareth Collins

Please note: the results below are estimates based on current (limited) understanding of the impact process and come with large uncertainties; they should be used with caution, particularly in the case of peculiar input parameters. All values are given to three significant figures but this does not reflect the precision of the estimate. For more information about the uncertainty associated with our calculations and a full discussion of this program, please refer to this article

Your Inputs:

Distance from Impact: 700.00 km ( = 435.00 miles )

Projectile diameter: 10.00 km ( = 6.21 miles )

Projectile Density: 3000 kg/m³

Impact Velocity: 51.00 km per second ( = 31.70 miles per second )

Impact Angle: 45 degrees

Target Density: 3000 kg/m³

Target Type: Crystalline Rock

Energy:

Energy before atmospheric entry: 2.04 x 10²⁴ Joules = 4.88 x 10⁸ MegaTons TNT

The average interval between impacts of this size somewhere on Earth during the last 4 billion years is 5.4 x 10⁸years

Major Global Changes:

The Earth is not strongly disturbed by the impact and loses negligible mass.

The impact does not make a noticeable change in the tilt of Earth's axis (< 5 hundreths of a degree).

Depending on the direction and location of impact, the collision may cause a change in the length of the day of up to 4.42 milliseconds.

The impact does not shift the Earth's orbit noticeably.

Crater Dimensions:

What does this mean?

Transient Crater Diameter: 97.3 km ( = 60.4 miles )

Transient Crater Depth: 34.4 km ( = 21.4 miles )

Final Crater Diameter: 177 km ( = 110 miles )

Final Crater Depth: 1.41 km ( = 0.873 miles )

The crater formed is a complex crater.

The volume of the target melted or vaporized is 12800 km³ = 3080 miles³

Roughly half the melt remains in the crater, where its average thickness is 1.73 km ( = 1.07 miles ).

Thermal Radiation:

What does this mean?

Time for maximum radiation: 4.98 seconds after impact

Visible fireball radius: 215 km ( = 134 miles )

The fireball appears 69.9 times larger than the sun

Thermal Exposure: 1.61 x 10⁹ Joules/m²

Duration of Irradiation: 54.9 minutes

Radiant flux (relative to the sun): 487

Effects of Thermal Radiation:

Clothing ignites

Much of the body suffers third degree burns

Newspaper ignites

Plywood flames

Deciduous trees ignite

Grass ignites

Seismic Effects:

What does this mean?


The major seismic shaking will arrive approximately 2.33 minutes after impact.

Richter Scale Magnitude: 10.4 (This is greater than any earthquake in recorded history)

Mercalli Scale Intensity at a distance of 700 km:

VI. Felt by all, many frightened. Some heavy furniture moved; a few instances of fallen plaster. Damage slight.

VII. Damage negligible in buildings of good design and construction; slight to moderate in well-built ordinary structures; considerable damage in poorly built or badly designed structures; some chimneys broken.

Ejecta:

What does this mean?


The ejecta will arrive approximately 6.71 minutes after the impact.

At your position there is a fine dusting of ejecta with occasional larger fragments

Average Ejecta Thickness: 2.33 meters ( = 7.64 feet )

Mean Fragment Diameter: 7.03 mm ( = 2.77 tenths of an inch )

Air Blast:

What does this mean?


The air blast will arrive approximately 35.4 minutes after impact.

Peak Overpressure: 914000 Pa = 9.14 bars = 130 psi

Max wind velocity: 725 m/s = 1620 mph

Sound Intensity: 119 dB (May cause ear pain)

Damage Description:

Multistory wall-bearing buildings will collapse.

Wood frame buildings will almost completely collapse.

Multistory steel-framed office-type buildings will suffer extreme frame distortion, incipient collapse.

Highway truss bridges will collapse.

Highway girder bridges will collapse.

Glass windows will shatter.

Cars and trucks will be largely displaced and grossly distorted and will require rebuilding before use.

Up to 90 percent of trees blown down; remainder stripped of branches and leaves.

Click here for a pdf document that details the observations, assumptions, and equations upon which this program is based. It describes our approach to quantifying the important impact processes that might affect the people, buildings, and landscape in the vicinity of an impact event and discusses the uncertainty in our predictions. The processes included are: atmospheric entry, impact crater formation, fireball expansion and thermal radiation, ejecta deposition, seismic shaking, and the propagation of the atmospheric blast wave.

Recent improvements in the airblast calculation are described here.