Numerical Simulation of the Initial Stage of the Formation of the Popigai Crater

The generally accepted hypothesis is that the Popigai diamond deposit is of impact origin. A theoretical study using methods of gas-dynamic numerical modeling of processes corresponding to a high-speed impact of a massive chondrite asteroid with the Earth’s surface in the area of the Popigai River basin has been conducted. The collision of an asteroid made of ordinary chondrite with velocities of 20–25 km/s with a multilayer barrier to simulate the structure of the Earth’s soil in the considered area has been modeled. A layer of natural carbon is located in the near-surface zone. Calculations using a parallel three-dimensional implementation of the finite-size particle-in-cell method using wide-range multiphase models of the equation of state (EOS) of chondrite, quartz, and carbon have been carried out. In the study, the thermodynamic parameters of the process of impact compression of asteroid materials and soil realized at the stage of compression and cratering have been obtained.