Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Oct 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dps....42.3405b&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #34.05; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.1015
Mathematics
Logic
Scientific paper
Many Martian impact craters display central pits either directly on the floor ("floor pits") or atop a central peak ("summit pits"). Several central pit formation models have been proposed, including central peak collapse in weak target material, excavation into subsurface weak layers, precursor to central dome formation, coalescence of smaller pits formed by impact melt interacting with target volatiles, vaporization of target volatiles, and drainage of impact-produced melt into subsurface fractures. This study utilizes THEMIS IR and VIS imagery to chart the distribution and characterize the morphologies/morphometries of Martian floor and summit pit craters. We have completed our survey of the northern hemisphere and the 0-30°S 180-315°E region, where we have classified 745 floor and 506 summit pit craters. Floor and summit pit craters display similar latitude (<68°N for floor and 70°N for summit pits) and diameter distributions (5-114 km for floor and 5-125 km for summit pits) and generally occur in the same regions regardless of geologic unit. Floor pits are slightly larger relative to their parent craters than summit pits (median Dp/Dc = 0.16 for floor and 0.13 for summit pits) and both display a linear relationship between pit (Dp) and crater (Dc) diameter. Normalizing the number of pit craters to the total number of craters in each 10° latitude x 10° longitude block reveals that floor pit craters reach their highest concentrations on volcanic units whereas summit pit craters are concentrated in highlands units. Distributions and characteristics of floor pit craters in this study are consistent only with the layered target and melt drainage formation models, and only the melt drainage model can explain the summit pit observations. Thus, both floor pits and summit pits can be formed by a similar mechanism of impact-induced melt draining into fractures under the crater floor or within a central peak.
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