Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufm.p34b..01m&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #P34B-01
Other
5420 Impact Phenomena, Cratering (6022, 8136), 6022 Impact Phenomena (5420, 8136), 6225 Mars, 8136 Impact Phenomena (5420, 6022)
Scientific paper
We have used MOLA topographic data to study the multi-layered ejecta blanket of a remarkably fresh Martian impact crater ~28 km in diameter, with the provisional I.A.U. name Tooting Crater. Tooting Crater is located just west of the Olympus Mons aureole at 23.4°N, 207.5°E. This crater is very young, as demonstrated by large amounts of impact melt preserved on the walls and floor, a extensive secondary crater field, almost no superposed primary impact craters, and higher than average thermal inertia values on the distal ramparts and crater walls. Tooting Crater formed on virtually flat lava flows within Amazonis Planitia far away from other topographic features, so that the thickness of the ejecta blanket can be determined by subtracting an elevation of -3,872 m from the MOLA measurements. Thus, for the first time, it is possible to determine absolute ejecta thicknesses for an impact crater on Mars as a function of radial distance away from the rim crest. This study therefore serves as a reference point against which to study the ejecta of more eroded multi-layered ejecta craters of similar size; knowledge of the radial distribution of ejecta for craters in the southern highlands may be particularly important for assessing erosion rates at different periods of the history of Mars (e.g., Forsberg-Taylor et al. 2004, JGR 109 E05002 doi: 10.1029/2004JE002242). A total of 24,201 MOLA shots lie on the ejecta blanket beyond the rim crest of Tooting Crater to a radial distance of 66.5 km. MOLA data show that the crater cavity volume is ~380 km3 and the volume of materials above the elevation of the pre-impact terrain is ~455 km3. Given no losses in the ejecta due to erosion, this implies a bulking of ~14.4% in the material that now forms the ejecta blanket. Maximum ejecta thickness is ~800 m at the rim, that decreases to <30 m within 35% of the maximum ejecta range. Remarkably, the ejecta layers are <5 m thick in some locations within the ejecta blanket, particularly at radial distances >~80% of the maximum range. We have compared the radial decay of ejecta at Tooting to the predicted decay of ejecta for lunar craters from McGetchin et al. (1973; EPSL 20, pp. 226 - 236). Closer than 6.5 km to the rim crest, Tooting ejecta are thicker than the equivalent lunar crater. Between radial distances of 6.5 to 33.5 km, the lunar ejecta blankets are thicker. At greater radial distances, Tooting ejecta and the predicted lunar values are very similar, except at the perimeter of the Tooting ejecta, where distal ramparts as high as 80 m can be found.
Garbeil Harold
Mouginis-Mark Peter J.
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