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Outreach article on the giant impact Origin of the Moon
The Crater Program to determine crater sizes or projectile diameters based on input parameters.
TEKTON - Finite element code for numerical analyses of tectonic problems.
SALES_2 - Hydrocode for studying fluid flow at all speeds.
Current Projects:
Impact Equations of State for geologic materials
Chemistry of impact-vaporized rocks
Viability of microorganisms in impacts and in space (joint with Prof.
Wayne Nicholson of the U of Az Veterinary Sciences department).
Seismic study of the Chicxulub impact crater (collaboration with U. of
Texas, Austin).
Mechanics of crater collapse and landslides
Spall mechanics of ejection of rocks from other planets
Tectonics of Europa
Dynamic fragmentation in impacts (with the Planetary Science
Institute)
Giant impact theory of the Moon's origin
Current LPL PhD students:
Jim Richardson
Abigail Scheffer
Current LPL postdocs:
Gareth Collins
Classes taught:
PtyS 505b Planetary Physics
PtyS 554 Planetary Surface Processes
PtyS 571 Terrestrial Planets
PtyS 594a Field Geology Practicum (field trip)
Selected Memberships/Committee Positions:
Member: AGU, Geological Society of America, Meteoritical Society, AAAS
Spacecraft involvement:
Deep Impact -
artificial
impact on comet Tempel 1
Papers (.pdf)
Asteroid Aggregates
Hazards due to Comets and
Asteroids
Impact Crater Collapse
Intersteller Panspermia
Mars Meteorites
Temperature of Europa's ocean
Impacts do not cause volcanic eruptions
Shatter cone formation
Shock wave rise times
Mobility of large rockslides
Mechanics of pseudotachylite formation
Abstracts (.pdf)
Impact Modeling
Impact Volcanism
Silverpit Crater Collapse
Small impacts do not make big waves
Recent references:
MELOSH, H. J. and IVANOV, B. A. (1998) Impact crater
collapse,
Ann. Rev.
Earth Planet. Sci. 27, 385-415.
PIERAZZO, E. AND MELOSH, H. J. (1999) Hydrocode modeling of Chicxulub as
an
oblique impact event, Earth and Planet. Sci. Lett. 165,
163-176.
MELOSH, H. J. (1998) Blast Off, The Sciences 38, no. 4,
40-46.
MELOSH, H. J. and RYAN, E. V. (1997) Asteroids: Shattered but not
dispersed
Icarus, 129, 562-564.
MELOSH, H. J. (1996) Dynamical weakening of faults by acoustic
fluidization, Nature, 379, 601-606.
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