Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufm.p41b1361k&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #P41B-1361
Other
5415 Erosion And Weathering, 5420 Impact Phenomena, Cratering (6022, 8136), 5462 Polar Regions, 6225 Mars
Scientific paper
High resolution and quality of images obtained by HiRISE camera onboard MRO gives a unique opportunity to study systematically the smallest impact craters on Mars. Very young crater populations are unaffected by distal secondaries, because they postdate the latest secondary-forming impact, therefore, crater populations can potentially be used to study resurfacing histories of the youngest terrains. I studied a population of small impact craters on the proximal ejecta lobes of crater Zunil. The ejecta material has a uniform age. About ~1000 small impact craters were registered. Crater morphology suggests minor eolian modification of the craters, total obliteration of craters seeming insignificant. Some craters in the population form clusters, which is caused by break-up of projectiles in the atmosphere. For the purposes of age estimates each cluster was considered as a single impact event. Statistical tests do not reject spatial randomness of the inferred independent events. The cumulative size-frequency distribution (SFD) fits well a power law with an exponent of 3.16 - 3.20 for craters larger than 4.9~m. Thus, the SFD is steep and perfectly extrapolates the Neukum - Hartmann production function (NPF) beyond its lower diameter limit. Absolute crater retention age estimates can be obtained from the NPF extrapolation (about 180~ka) and from the present-day cratering rate (<540~ka). Remembering that both estimates are very far extrapolations, their consistency is wonderful. The ages are also consistent with Zunil being the youngest 10~km-size crater on the planet. The studied properties of the accumulation population on Zunil ejecta allow addressing interesting problems with analysis of small crater populations. For example, the observed extreme scarcity of small craters at high latitudes indicates that the high-latitude patterned ground is a very active landscape under the present climate conditions. Another example is a population of craters in Olympus Mons caldera, which clearly indicates significant eolian resurfacing at time scales consistent with the recent obliquity changes, which suggests noticeably higher atmospheric pressure in the recent past.
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