Crater Antipode

[Superfluous J]

I've looked through the forums and the google for this, and found naught. I doubt, though, that in over half a decade I'm the first to notice this.

I was just on the wiki and found this old map of Kerbin from well before I started playing:

You'll note it has some major differences to the current map of Kerbin:

(Sorry it's not perfectly aligned. I didn't have the time or gumption to do image editing).

Now if you ignore the rivers and the mountains and deserts, the only real MAJOR differences are the missing land bridge East of the KSC, and the well-known crater roughly 90 degrees West of the KSC.

One other thing though that I noticed just now, roughly (though more than) 90 degrees WEST of KSC is a ring of mountains and highlands with a central peak, that is surprisingly similar in size to "the crater."

This is not in the original map. The KSP devs added it. And it's roughly (but not exactly) at the antipode of the crater.

Is this an indication that the asteroid that made the crater hit so hard, that it deformed terrain on the OTHER SIDE OF KERBIN?

[overkill13]

Some kind of asteroid impact induced earthquake caused the land bridge to sink into the ocean?

[Gargamel]

5 hours ago, 5thHorseman said:

Is this an indication that the asteroid that made the crater hit so hard, that it deformed terrain on the OTHER SIDE OF KERBIN?

I see it.   Nice catch.  There is precedent for this in our solar system though, but on a much smaller scale (Anybody know which moon I'm talking about?   I don't). 

But I would work under the assumption that such an impact would go straight across, not to the side.   If it was straight through, it would be under the ocean, just north of that 'large' pennisula.   But if it hit at an oblique angle, it might have punched through to there.   And I guess research has shown that most impact craters, in most angles of impact, still form circular craters. 

So nice catch.  

[The Aziz]

I would say that this one could be completely different impact crater. Let's take a look at real-world one, shall we?

Here we have Gosses Bluff crater in Australia. It is literally a mountain (okay, but considering the size - hill) range in the shape of a ring. Erosion did its job and now the possible hill in the center isn't there anymore. Same could've happen in the *ekhm* past of Kerbin.

[klesh]

10 minutes ago, Gargamel said:

I see it.   Nice catch.  There is precedent for this in our solar system though, but on a much smaller scale (Anybody know which moon I'm talking about?   I don't).

 

What about Mercury's "weird terrain"? 

 

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2011/3004.html

[Espatie]

There is one known and one hypothesised phenomena in the real world related to what you are asking about here:

 

Antipodal Seismic Focusing is the effect where seismic waves that diverge from a seismic event naturally converge at the antipodal point, which causes increased effects at that location. That's been observed with regular Seismic events and estimated for various impact scenarios.

 

The hypothesised phenomena is that a sufficiently energetic impact could cause Seismic Focusing effects further down into the mantle, generating a Mantle Plume. Mantle Plumes naturally lead to crustal thinning, rupturing and igneous province formation.

 

So I would guess that that's what was modelled into KSP, and that Antipodal mountain is actually a Volcano.

[Fraktal]

I read back in the day that the Wilkes Land crater under the Antarctican ice apparently used to be antipodal to the Siberian Traps during the Permian, the crater is of similar age as the apocalyptic eruption that created the Traps at the end of the Permian and said eruption may have been the cause of the mass extinction event at the end of the Permian that singlehandedly came closest to ending life on Earth.

So whatever created that crater... you did not want to be on Kerbin at the same time.

Edited February 25, 2019 by Fraktal

[Fraston]

 

5 hours ago, Gargamel said:

There is precedent for this in our solar system though, but on a much smaller scale

Mercrury. Even though mercury is a fair amount larger than Kerbin.

Edit: looked it up, Mercury is more than 7 times the diameter of kerbin.

Edited February 25, 2019 by Fraston

[0something0]

 

5 hours ago, Gargamel said:

There is precedent for this in our solar system though, but on a much smaller scal

I think he means that Death Star moon around Saturn, Mimas.

[Fraston]

Just now, 0something0 said:

 

I think he means that Death Star moon around Saturn, Mimas.

I was thinking of that too, but off the top of my head I thought Mercury.

_d’oh

[Loskene]

Yeah it's a seismic thing and not a "stuff getting pushed through a playdough stencil"/"coring an apple" effect. Manifestation of effects depends more on the internal composition and density of the body (which affects wave transmission and interference internally) than the size or velocity of the impactor/impactee.

Edited February 27, 2019 by Loskene
.

[Gargamel]

On 2/24/2019 at 11:15 PM, Fraston said:

 

Mercrury. Even though mercury is a fair amount larger than Kerbin.

Edit: looked it up, Mercury is more than 7 times the diameter of kerbin.

 

On 2/24/2019 at 11:24 PM, 0something0 said:

 

I think he means that Death Star moon around Saturn, Mimas.

 

On 2/24/2019 at 11:25 PM, Fraston said:

I was thinking of that too, but off the top of my head I thought Mercury.

_d’oh

Not sure what exact thing I was thinking of, but they all seem right to me.   I know this exists IRL. 

[Xurkitree]

Heh, even my new home planet design has such a feature, except it’s the main feature of the planet - the crater was so huge it created an circular ocean with a massive antipodal circular mountain range. The planet looks like 2 different planets stuck together - one archipelago planet with a continental one.

[Martian Emigrant]

On 2/24/2019 at 11:58 AM, 5thHorseman said:

....
Is this an indication that the asteroid that made the crater hit so hard, that it deformed terrain on the OTHER SIDE OF KERBIN?

Good catch.

It does seem like you are the first to see that.

 

My understanding of that. Is that as the wave propagate the core blocks the energy and cast a shadow on the opposite side.

The waves (Not orderly as the crust varies in thickness/shape/slopes and the magma varies in density) that misses the core are reflected (Around the core) by the crust and refocused on the antipode.

Refocused but we are not talking "Laser focussed". The opposite side should be more like a melted/re-congealed crust.

Unlike the ring with a peak in the middle that we have on Kerbin.

 

ME

Edited February 28, 2019 by Martian Emigrant