V-type near-Earth asteroids: Dynamics, close encounters and impacts with terrestrial planets

Asteroids colliding with planets vary in composition and taxonomical type. Among Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) are the V-types, basaltic asteroids that are classified via spectroscopic observations. we performed numerical simulations and statistical analysis of close encounters and impacts between V-type NEAs and the terrestrial planets over the next 10 Myr. We study the probability of V- type NEAs colliding with Earth, Mars and Venus, as well as the Moon. We perform a correlational analysis of possible craters produced by V-type NEAs, using available catalogs for terrestrial impact craters. The results suggest that V-type NEAs can have many close encounters below 1 LD and even some of them impacts with all the terrestrial planets, the Earth in particular. There are four candidate craters on Earth that were likely caused by V-type NEAs. At least 70% of the V-type NEAs can have close encounters with the terrestrial planets (and 58% with the Moon) . They can collide with all the terrestrial planets. In particular for the Earth the average rate is one every ∼12 Myr. The two craters with the highest probability of being generated by an impact with a basaltic impactor are: the Strangways crater (24 km diameter) in Australia and the Nicholson crater (12.5 km diameter) in Canada. Data from Dr. Mattia A. Galiazzo.