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16 - Collisional Evolution of the Main Belt as Recorded by Vesta

from Part III - Implications for the Formation and Evolution of the Solar System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

By
William F. Bottke  and
Martin Jutzi
Edited by
Simone Marchi ,
Carol A. Raymond  and
Christopher T. Russell
Simone Marchi
Affiliation:
Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado
Carol A. Raymond
Affiliation:
California Institute of Technology
Christopher T. Russell
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
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Summary

Vesta’s surface is dominated by two overlapping impact basins: the older ~400 km Veneneia basin and the younger ~500 km diameter Rheasilvia basin.Their age and nature, along with the ejecta they produced in the form of V-type asteroids, can help us probe Vesta’s evolution.By modeling the production of craters superposed on these basins or on features created by their formation, we predict Veneneia and Rheasilvia basins are 3.2–3.5 Ga and ~1 Ga, respectively. Numerical models indicate they were created by the impact of ~60–70 km projectiles. These impacts likely dredged up material formed at >50 km depths within Vesta. The evidence for the formation time of Veneneia and Rheasilvia in the eucrite and howardite meteorite record exists but is limited. The absence of an obvious spike of 40Ar/39Ar shock degassing ages may be a consequence of low Main Belt impact velocities (< 5 km/s). Most V-type asteroids in the inner main belt are ejecta from one of these two basins. The scattered and limited population of V-types in the central and outer main belt have no clear source. We postulate they are fragments from Vesta-like bodies that originally formed in the terrestrial planet region.

Keywords

VestaRheasilvia basinLarge impactsRadiometric agesShock degassingEucrite and howardite meteorites
Type
Chapter
Information
Vesta and Ceres
Insights from the Dawn Mission for the Origin of the Solar System
, pp. 250 - 261
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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