A statistical dynamical study of meteorite impactors: a case study based on parameters derived from the Bosumtwi impact event

TL;DR

This paper uses statistical dynamical methods to analyze the Bosumtwi impact event, identifying the likely origin of the impactor as a high-inclination object from the Middle Main Belt, based on parameters derived from the crater.

Contribution

It introduces a two-phase backward integration approach to constrain the impactor's source region, providing new insights into the impactor's origin.

Findings

Impactor likely originated from the Middle Main Belt.

Impactor was approximately 1 km in diameter.

Impact angle was between 30° and 45°.

Abstract

The study of meteorite craters on Earth provides information about the dynamic evolution of bodies within the Solar System. Bosumtwi crater is a well studied, 10.5 km in diameter, ca. 1.07 Ma old impact structure located in Ghana. The impactor was $\sim$ 1 km in diameter, an ordinary chondrite and struck the Earth with an angle between 30$^\circ$ and 45$^\circ$ from the horizontal. We have used a two phase backward integration to constrain the most probable parent region of the impactor. We find that the most likely source region is a high inclination object from the Middle Main Belt.