Preimpact porosity controls the gravity signature of lunar craters. Milbury, C., Johnson, B. C., Melosh, H. J., Collins, G. S., Blair, D. M., Soderblom, J. M., Nimmo, F., Bierson, C. J., Phillips, R. J., & Zuber, M. T. Geophysical Research Letters, 42(22):2015GL066198, November, 2015.
Preimpact porosity controls the gravity signature of lunar craters [link]Paper  doi  abstract   bibtex   
We model the formation of lunar complex craters and investigate the effect of preimpact porosity on their gravity signatures. We find that while preimpact target porosities less than ~7% produce negative residual Bouguer anomalies (BAs), porosities greater than ~7% produce positive anomalies whose magnitude is greater for impacted surfaces with higher initial porosity. Negative anomalies result from pore space creation due to fracturing and dilatant bulking, and positive anomalies result from destruction of pore space due to shock wave compression. The central BA of craters larger than ~215 km in diameter, however, are invariably positive because of an underlying central mantle uplift. We conclude that the striking differences between the gravity signatures of craters on the Earth and Moon are the result of the higher average porosity and variable porosity of the lunar crust.
@article{milbury_preimpact_2015,
	title = {Preimpact porosity controls the gravity signature of lunar craters},
	volume = {42},
	issn = {1944-8007},
	url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2015GL066198/abstract},
	doi = {10.1002/2015GL066198},
	abstract = {We model the formation of lunar complex craters and investigate the effect of preimpact porosity on their gravity signatures. We find that while preimpact target porosities less than {\textasciitilde}7\% produce negative residual Bouguer anomalies (BAs), porosities greater than {\textasciitilde}7\% produce positive anomalies whose magnitude is greater for impacted surfaces with higher initial porosity. Negative anomalies result from pore space creation due to fracturing and dilatant bulking, and positive anomalies result from destruction of pore space due to shock wave compression. The central BA of craters larger than {\textasciitilde}215 km in diameter, however, are invariably positive because of an underlying central mantle uplift. We conclude that the striking differences between the gravity signatures of craters on the Earth and Moon are the result of the higher average porosity and variable porosity of the lunar crust.},
	language = {en},
	number = {22},
	urldate = {2016-02-02},
	journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
	author = {Milbury, C. and Johnson, B. C. and Melosh, H. J. and Collins, G. S. and Blair, D. M. and Soderblom, J. M. and Nimmo, F. and Bierson, C. J. and Phillips, R. J. and Zuber, M. T.},
	month = nov,
	year = {2015},
	keywords = {5417 Gravitational fields, 5470 Surface materials and properties, 5475 Tectonics, 8122 Dynamics: gravity and tectonics, 8135 Hydrothermal systems, GRAIL, Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, Porosity, gravity, impact crater, lunar},
	pages = {2015GL066198},
}

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