Structural consequences of sill formation below lunar craters inferred from scaled analogue experiments

Although mechanisms of impact cratering have been studied intensely by numerical modelling and field analyses, an outstanding problem concerns long-term crater modification. Localized deformation in form of radial and concentric crater floor fractures are prominent post-cratering structural vestiges of lunar impact craters. Two mechanisms were proposed to explain the formation of floor fractures: isostatic re-equilibration of crust underlying …