NUMERICAL MODELLING OF THE INITIAL STAGE OF POPIGAI CRATER FORMATION

An impact formation hypothesis for the Popigai diamond deposit is the most common these days. Theoretical research of hypervelocity impact of a massive chondrite asteroid on the Earth's surface near Popigai river region was carried out using computational gas dynamics methods. We simulate an ordinary chondrite spherical asteroid collision with a layered structure of the Earth's soil in the initial velocity range of 15–20 km/s as most possible velocity span. The natural carbon deposit layer is located in the near-surface zone of the loaded area. The calculations were carried out using a parallel three-dimensional implementation of the finite-size particle-in-cell method. Models of the equations of state of chondrite, quartz and carbon are used to describe the properties of the meteorite and soil material. Thermodynamic parameters of impact compression of soil materials at the initial stages of loading and crater formation processes are obtained.