How ancient they are, I'd have to say as old as the solar system.
Collision frequency:
Collision amongst Asteroid Belts
From ref 1 below: Based on the particle in a box model which assumes a homogeneous distribution in the interactive volume, the intrinsic collision probability is computed to be around 5times10−18km−2yr−1.
However Wetherill(ref below) have some modifications to Opik's formulation for collision between two elliptical orbits, suggests that the impact is nearly independent of the orbital elements of the test body and is nearly half of the value obatined from PIAB model. It also seems to suggest that intrafamily collisions are higher than collision amongst non family objects.
Collision with the Earth Here it characterized in various classes:
- bolides or upper atmospheric explosion,
- land impacts leading to local or regional devastation,
- ocean impacts leading to regional disasters,
- global ecological catastrophe,
- mass extinctions
Based on the scale, the impact events are categorized as harmless, Class-1, to devastating, Class-5.
The 440-KT Chelyabinsk event of 2013 belongs to impact hazard class 2, causing regional or local devastation. This was caused by a mere 20 meters wide meteor entering the atmosphere of Earth. For a cumulative number of impacts described for a given reference time interval of Tref = 1Ga (109 years)
which is long enough to statistically include a meaningful number of impacts from all the classesabove, the class 2 impacts cumulative will be 2times106 , with small bodies falling in the size range of 20-100 m. Where the characteristic time scale is of 102 a.
For class 3-5 events leading to regional disasters to global extinction events, the cumulative number of impacts within the reference interval is 104 with characteristic time scale being 105 a. These events can lead to large devastation ranging from an entire country or region (class 3, with an explosive energy of approximately 104 MT TNT), to mass extinctions (class 5 releasing an approximate energy 108 MT of TNT). An example from the history for such event is the classic K-T extinction events 65 Ma ago that wiped out more than 99% of the living species.
References:
1. http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1992LPI....23..283D/0000283.000.html
2. http://www.springer.com/fr/book/9780792354666
3. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/JZ072i009p02429/abstract
(PS: If anyone has a link to the open access for final paper, or a pdf; I would really appreciate a copy.)
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