Expert Database on the Earth Impact Structures

V. K. Gusiakov, Z. A. Lyapidevskaya

Protecting the Earth against Collisions with Asteroids and Comet Nuclei, In: A. M. Finkelstein, W. F. Huebner, V. A. Shor (Eds) Proceedings of the International Conference “Asteroid-Comet Hazard-2009”, StP: Nauka, 228–232 (2010)

Ключевые слова: Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), Near Earth Objects (NEOs), Earth Impact Structures (EDEIS), Expert Database, Earth Impact Database, the degree of confidence of impact origin, validity index V, classification of structures over the validity index, impact criteria, morphological impact criteria level, geological impact criteria level, petrological impact criteria level, mineralogical impact criteria level

Аннотация

An Expert Database on the Earth Impact Structures (EDEIS) has been compiled and is being maintained in the Tsunami Laboratory of the Institute of Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Geophysics of SD RAS in Novosibirsk. This database is somewhat more liberal than the well-known Earth Impact Database maintained by the Planetary and Space Science Centre, University of New Brunswick, Canada. In addition to including the fully validated impact structures, the EDEIS also lists proposed structures whose impact genesis still needs validation. For any structure, the degree of confidence of impact origin is reflected by its validity index V, which varies from 4 (confirmed) to 0 (rejected) with intermediate values of 3 (probable), 2 (perspective) and 1 (proposed for further study). Classification of structures over the validity index is based on some sort of expert judgment and reflects the availability of impact criteria found at four different levels - morphological, geological, petrological, and mineralogical. Currently, the database contains 1020 structures, among them 214 with = 4, 211 with = 3, 455 with = 2, and 47 with = 1. 93 structures have validity index = 0, because the once proposed impact origin was later disproved by additional studies