Customer Reviews

Impact Cratering: A Geologic Process (Oxford Monographs on Geology and Geophysics)

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I picked up this book in 1989 and reading it was one of the most pleasurable learning experiences of my life. In writing this book, Melosh has assembled in a pleasing and logical manner the fundamentals of the science of asteroid or comet impacts and basically laid the foundation for the study of impact structures on Earth and other planets. His writing style is excellent and so are the illustrations -- I only hope that the next edition will deal with the environmental impacts of impacts . . .

This book is presently the definitive work on cratering. It includes examples from throughout the solar system, however, terrestrial cratering in sufficiently covered to inform those seeking information in identifying earth impacts. This is the book often referred to in the Lunar and Planetary Institute's handbook on cratering, Traces of a Catastrophe, which condenses the material from Melosh's book. Impact Cratering looks at all aspects of cratering mechanics, ejecta deposits, modification, simple and complex craters, atmospheric interaction, and includes formulas, many photos and diagrams, is well indexed, and has a large bibliography. This book is for the serious investigator of impact cratering but is great reading for anyone who enjoys discovering the facts behind this very wide ranging occurrence. I particularly recommend this book to geologists as they would benefit from learning of other mechanisms which could explain terrestrial phenomenon otherwise incorrectly explained or unexplained by traditional geological processes.